Police find 45 bags containing human remains in Mexico

JALISCO, Mexico (CNN) - A total of 45 bags containing human remains have been discovered in a ravine in a suburb of Guadalajara, Mexico, according to the state prosecutor’s office in Jalisco.

The Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office investigating the deaths said it has preliminary information that the body parts “match the physical characteristics” of seven missing call center employees.

The employees were reported missing between May 20 and May 22 in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara in western Mexico.

Luis Joaquín Méndez Ruíz, a Jalisco prosecutor, said they found the human remains inside bags thrown on a lot with a very steep slope.

Forensic experts have yet to determine the number of victims and their identities.

The Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences is working with the families of those missing to determine the identification of the human remains.

The country has been troubled by an epidemic of disappearances, with more than 100,000 Mexicans and migrants still missing.

In March, after four Americans were kidnapped in Mexico, resulting in the deaths of two of them, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador argued that Mexico is a safer country than the United States.

Kidnapping and human trafficking are also not unusual in parts of Mexico, particularly in border areas, and Mexico’s overall homicide rate is among the highest in the world.