9 miners abducted in Mexico have died, B.C.-based company confirms

A Vancouver-based mining company says nine of 10 workers abducted from its project in Mexico have died.

Vizsla Silver said in a news release Monday it remains in “close contact” with the family of one of the workers who remains missing and that they continue to support authorities in the ongoing investigation.

The workers were abducted in January, and authorities said in February they began recovering bodies in a clandestine grave.

“This is a devastating outcome, and our heartfelt condolences are with all the families impacted. We stand beside them with continued support as we mourn our colleagues and friends,” said Michael Konnert, president and CEO of Vizsla Silver, in the news release.

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“We will always carry this loss with us. We will honour our colleagues through the work we do every day and our ongoing commitment to their families, our community in Sinaloa, and the values that define us.”

Mexican authorities said in February that at least one body matching the characteristics of one of the workers, who were kidnapped from Vizsla’s Panuco project in northern Sinaloa state, was found in the clandestine grave in Concordia.

Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said then that steps were being taken to confirm the victim’s identity and collect evidence from the grave, where remains of several other bodies were found some 45 kilometres east of the Pacific coast city of Mazatlan.

Family members interviewed by Reuters earlier this year said some of the workers who went missing had received threats from organized crime groups in the area, including the Chapitos, a faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the sons of ex-Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Jaime Lopez, the uncle of Pablo Osorio, a 26-year-old engineer and one of the men who went missing, said as the family was poor, they would not be able to afford a ransom.

“We are devastated,” he told Reuters, adding he had not wanted his nephew to go to Concordia as it was dangerous, but it was the only place that had responded to his job applications when he finished his degree three years ago.

— with files from Reuters