Search For Missing Mexican Students: 60 Mass Graves Found

Sixty mass graves were uncovered during the ongoing search for the 43 missing students that were abducted in Mexico September of last year.

According to BBC, during the ongoing search for the missing 43 students, 60 mass graves were uncovered instead in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. In a report by the attorney general's office, 129 bodies were recovered from the graves. The good news is, none of the remains was linked to the students who were kidnapped in Iguala.

In addition to the report, the mass graves were accidentally discovered while the search for the 43 missing students was ongoing. The majority of the bodies were male and the remains of 20 women were also found.

In another report by The Guardian, 16 of the 129 bodies were already identified. Most of the bodies were also discovered by the grieving families of the abducted students.

"Only 16 of the 129 bodies have so far been identified; 20 were women, 92 were men, while the gender of the rest has yet to be determined," the article stated. "Many of the bodies were discovered by grieving families who launched their own search parties after the attack on the Ayotzinapa students."

The unresolved kidnapping incident happened in the town of Iguala which is around 190 kilometers southwest of the capital. The attack left 6 dead and 43 missing trainee teachers. The abduction case has led to a mass protest all over Mexico and a massive international condemnation.

There are 110 people that were charged in relation to the attack but so far none of them has been prosecuted.

"Skepticism about the official version of events continues to grow, and some relatives of the missing students still cling to the hope that they may still be alive," the article noted.

The government has rejected help offered by an independent team that was sent by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. This is to conduct investigation of the army's possible involvement. Omar Garcia, a student who survived the attack said that everyone is living in a very serious situation where anyone can just disappear.

"We're living in a very serious situation where anyone can be disappeared and murdered, buried in a secret grave and be forgotten, unless their families look for them. The fact that only 16 people have been identified out of 129 shows the state's lack of will to investigate. Mexico has forensic scientists and anthropologists capable of doing the work, but they're not given access because there is no political will," Garcia said.

Since 2006, there are 23,000 people that have been reported missing. While their whereabouts remain unknown, 15,000 found bodies remain unidentified.