Mexican authorities started exhuming a mass grave with 116 corpses Monday, which was discovered back in November 2015, in the cartel-ravaged state of Morelos.
Exhumation of the bodies is being overseen by Mexico’s National Commission of Human Rights. Authorities from the state prosecutor’s office will ultimately conduct all exhumations, and they claim to have already identified some of the bodies, according to Expansion.
Authorities found the bodies in two shallow pits, each one is only 33 feet deep. Conservative estimates put disappearances in Mexico as a result of the War on Drugs, at 20,000.
Federal Forensic Police and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office will also have a presence in the exhumation process. The Autonomous University of Morelos State will also provide assistance in DNA testing of the bodies.
The mass grave was discovered after the family of a 2013 kidnapping and murder victim, Oliver Navarrette, went searching for his body according to CNN Español. Despite the body having been identified, since it was not claimed, authorities sent it to the pits. In areas with a lot of cartel crime, it is not uncommon for authorities to illegally dispose of bodies.
Exhuming the 116 bodies is a process that will take five days. Authorities are still trying to determine the person responsible for deciding to dump the bodies in the mass grave.
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