Mexican officials find 19 bodies in a sewage canal

MEXICO CITY – Nineteen corpses have been found in plastic bags in a western Mexico sewage canal, authorities said Friday.

Prosecutors in the state of Jalisco said the bags were found in a township just east of the city of Guadalajara on Thursday night.

The victims were killed by blows, strangulation or bullet wounds, and some bodies were more decomposed than others, suggesting they had been tossed into the canal at different times.

State prosecutor Gerardo Solis said one woman was among the dead. The total number of victims could also rise because divers were searching the canal to see if more corpses had sunk to the bottom.

Solis said nine of the bodies were too badly composed to yield fingerprints, but one identified man appeared to have a criminal record. Almost all seemed to have had their hands bound, he added.

Firefighters joined in the effort to retrieve the bags, which were tied shut with wire.

Mexican drug cartels frequently use such body dumping areas to get rid of the corpses of rivals.

Jalisco is home to the drug cartel of the same name.