Experts have found evidence of a large fire in which at least 17 bodies were burned at a dump in southern Mexico, a member of the investigating team said, in the latest twist in the case of 43 missing teachers' college students.
Ricardo Damian Torres, speaking from the offices of Mexico's attorney general, said tests would be conducted in the coming weeks to determine whether it would have been possible to burn all 43 at the dump in the town of Cocula in Guerrero state, where the government has said the students' bodies ended up after disappearing in nearby Iguala on Sept. 26, 2014.
Relatives of the missing students have fiercely disputed the government's version of events and multiple investigations by other teams of experts have concluded they could not have all been burned at the Cocula dump. The government's perceived mishandling of the symbolic human rights case has dogged the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto.
In yesterday's brief press conference, Torres did not say when such a fire occurred or offer any explanation as to how the team conducted its research and reached its conclusion.
"There is sufficient evidence, including physically observable, to affirm that there was a controlled fire event of great dimensions in the place called the Cocula dump," he said, speaking for the six-member fire-expert team and sitting beside Mexico's deputy attorney general for human rights, Eber Betanzos. He took no questions.
In an interview with Milenio TV, Vidulfo Rosales, a lawyer representing the families, said they had not reviewed the experts' report and could not discuss it. However, he expressed concern about the way the attorney general's office was handling the investigation.
