PLAYAS DE TIJUANA, Mexico: Mexican authorities said Friday they were stepping up the search for two Australians and an American who went missing last week while surfing in an area plagued by cartel violence.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American boyfriend Jack Carter have not been seen since April 27.
They were vacationing near the coastal town of Ensenada in the northwestern state of Baja California.
But the brothers’ mother, Debra Robinson, said in her post on Facebook that they never arrived at the planned accommodation.
According to City Hall, Navy personnel participated in the search, along with officials from the State Attorney’s Office, which requested the assistance of firefighters in searching the reef in the area.
A source from the prosecutor’s office said that no human remains had been found, contrary to media reports that three bodies had been discovered in the area.
Baja California state authorities said Thursday that three Mexican nationals were being questioned in connection with the disappearances.
“A white pickup truck and other evidence were found,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The investigation was coordinated with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Australian and US consulates, it added.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the disappearance as “truly disturbing”.
“We certainly hope that these brothers will be found safely, but there is a real concern that they are missing,” he told Australian television.
Known for its alluring beaches, Baja California is also one of Mexico’s most violent states thanks to organized crime groups.
In November 2015, two other Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were murdered and their bodies burned while hiking in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Meanwhile, the FBI said that three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California, near an area where two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip last week.
“We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” FBI’s office in San Diego said in a statement without providing identities of the victims.
