Mexican authorities said Monday that five of 10 missing workers from a mine operated by a Canadian company in the northwestern state of Sinaloa have been identified among 10 bodies found in secret graves last week in a nearby community.

The state attorney’s office stated in a statement that the remaining bodies are still awaiting identification.

Vizsla Silver Corp. based in Vancouver. it is stated in the press release Monday that “a number of families have advised that their relatives, our colleagues, who were taken from the company’s project site in Concordia, Mexico, have been found dead.”

The company said it is still awaiting confirmation from Mexican authorities. Neither the company nor Mexican authorities have commented on what the possible motive might be.

“We are devastated by this outcome and the tragic loss of life,” said Vizsla President and CEO Michael Konnert. “Our focus remains on the safe recovery of those who remain missing and on supporting all affected families and our people at this incredibly difficult time.”

Jaime Castañeda said he identified the body of his brother José Manuel Castañeda Hernández on Sunday by looking at photographs shown to him by local officials in Mazatlán, CBC News reported.

“Really, it was very painful to be here, in a place where we don’t want to be,” Jaime Castañeda told CBC News in a phone interview.

José Manuel Castañeda Hernández, 43, was a husband and father of two, his brother told CBC News.

“It’s so hard to see… how they suffer,” Jaime Castañeda helps. “There is no justice in what is happening.”

Mexican authorities on Friday announced the discovery of bodies and remains in an area where 10 missing workers from a Canadian gold and silver mine were being searched.

The office also reported the arrests of four people believed to be connected to the worker’s disappearance.

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum he said Monday that those suspects led authorities to the body. – Everything is under investigation – she said.

The mountainous area is one of the many points in the country where a war for territory between two rival factions has been going on for more than a year. Sinaloa poster.

On January 28, Vizsla reported the kidnapping of 10 people from its facilities. They said they had notified authorities and that their crisis management and security response teams were involved in the search.

The federal government has increased the number of soldiers deployed in the state and launched an operation to find workers.

Mines have on other occasions been the target of organized crime in Mexico, as cartels see opportunities to extort or even sell valuable ore themselves.

On Monday, Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha said that they are various secret tombs they were found last week, but they said the search continued.

Rocha also referred to last week’s kidnapping of a group of Mexican tourists from Mazatlan. He said the woman and child who were with them were found alive, but four people were missing.

More than 7,000 people are missing in Sinaloa, some of the more than 132,000 missing nationwide, according to federal figures.

Last month, Sheinbaum said efforts were being made to break up the Mexican cartels “convincing results” in an effort to forestall the Trump administration’s talk of intervention.

The comments come after President Trump threatened action by US forces against Mexican drug cartels. Mr Trump told Fox News that the United States had “taken out 97% of the drugs that come in by water” and that the US was “going to start hitting land now, with respect to the cartels”.