Investigators found 10 more bodies Wednesday in a series of mass graves in northeastern Mexico, bringing the total to 126 in a case officials have blamed on the Zetas drug cartel.The 10 new bodies were taken to the morgue in the border city of Matamoros, according to a spokesman in the prosecutor’s office.
But the morgue was overflowing, and officials were forced to get a refrigerated truck rushed in from Mexico City.
Pedro Efrain Gonzalez of the Matamoros prosecutor’s office told reporters the bodies were found in a rural area near the town of San Fernando, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the border with the United States.
State prosecutors said some of the recently found bodies had been buried for more than a year.
“Don’t be surprised, we could eventually find more than 180 bodies,” said a local investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Seven major drug gangs are operating in Mexico, and their bloody clashes with each other and the authorities have left over 34,600 people dead since December 2006.
The country’s Human Rights Commission said more than 5,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico. Many are presumed to be victims of the drug war.
President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown against the drug gangs in 2006 but has so far failed to stem the violenc