Missing student ID’d among charred bodies in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — At least one of 43 college students missing since September has been identified among charred remains found near a garbage dump, two Mexican officials confirmed Saturday.

The two could not provide more details on how many of the students might have been identified.

They agreed to speak only if granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

A family member of a missing student told The Associated Press that the remains were of Alexander Mora. The families were given that information late Friday by an Argentine team of forensic experts working on behalf of the relatives and with the Attorney General’s Office, said the relative, who also would speak only on condition of anonymity.

The students went missing Sept. 26 after confrontations with police in Iguala, in southern Guerrero state, that killed three students and three bystanders. The attorney general has said they were attacked by police on orders of Iguala’s former mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, who has since been detained.

Prosecutors say the students were later turned over to a drug gang, which killed them. Detainees have told officials that they burned the 43 bodies at a dump site and bagged and scattered their ashes in a river. Authorities have detained more than 70 people in the case.

Investigators in the case recovered only small fragments of bones to identify the victims. They were sent to the University of Innsbruck in Austria, which was recommended by the Argentine forensic team as having one of the most experienced laboratories for identifying deteriorated remains.

The identification presumably came from there, but officials would not confirm that, and members of the Argentine team could not be reached Saturday.

The case has ignited citizen indignation across Mexico and abroad for the fact that the students disappeared at the hands of a corrupt local government and that federal authorities took 10 days to intervene.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets, some calling for President Enrique Pena Nieto to resign. The case has come to signify the abuse of authority and corruption that is engrained in the Mexican systems and that all Mexicans experience on a regular basis.

Another demonstration was being held Saturday, where parents of missing students were expected to speak about the identification.