Days later, human remains were located in a property in El Verde, so federal authorities are carrying out the corresponding identification procedures. Among the identified victims is José Ángel Hernández Vélez, a mining engineer from Cañitas de Felipe Pescador, Zacatecas. His identity was confirmed by both relatives and sources from the Zacatecas State Prosecutor's Office, according to local media. The third identified worker is José Manuel Castañeda Hernández, a geologist, whose body was found in the same clandestine grave and recognized through forensic tests. His body was found in the clandestine grave discovered on February 6, and his identity was confirmed through forensic and genetic studies. After his death was confirmed, the senator for Zacatecas, Geovanna Bañuelos, expressed on her X account: “With deep pain I regret the death of José Ángel Hernández Vélez, a Zacatecan miner from Cañitas de Felipe Pescador […] No family should have to live through the anguish of a disappearance or such a loss”. Also identified was Ignacio Aurelio Salazar Flores, a geological engineer from Sombrerete, Zacatecas. This Sunday, the identification of three of the 10 missing miners since January 23 in the municipality of Concordia, Sinaloa, was reported. Their bodies were found in clandestine graves in the El Verde community, an area where the Sonora Searching Mothers collective warns that there could be more than 20 victims. The miners, working on the project of the Canadian company Vizsla Silver, would have been illegally deprived of their freedom by an armed command on the morning of January 23, according to their families' accounts. The Sonora Searching Mothers collective stated that the number of people killed in the area could exceed 20: “They were not 10, they were more than 20, and not only those 20 were buried there or there are many more, they are still there,” the group assured in a message posted on its Facebook account, in which it pointed out that, according to “very reliable” sources, the place is a “clandestine cemetery”. “We are going to fight to go to that place in search of each of the people who may still be buried, because they only want to take out the miners but I think everyone who is there deserves to be searched for and to come home. We are extremely grateful to those who give us anonymous information that helps us find each person,” the collective emphasized. According to the available information, the bodies were in an advanced state of decomposition, which made specialized analyses necessary for their identification. The investigation of the case is in the hands of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO) of the Attorney General's Office (FGR). So far, the arrest of four people allegedly linked to the events has been reported, who have been placed at the disposal of the corresponding authority. The discovery occurred in a plot located in the El Verde community, Concordia.
