Bodies found during search for Australian brothers Callum and Jake Robinson on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula
Three bodies have reportedly been found in an area of northern Mexico where two Perth brothers and their friend are missing.
News agency Reuters reports that Mexican authorities have found three bodies on the Baja Peninsula, according to two sources familiar with the investigation. The bodies have not been identified.
Brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, and their American friend Jack Carter Road were traveling in the region on a surfing holiday when they failed to check into pre-arranged accommodation near the town of Ensenada.
The siblings have also not been in contact with their family since last Saturday.
Three Mexican nationals were detained by police investigating the group’s disappearance as a burnt-out Chevrolet Colorado matching the one the Australians were traveling in was found on a farm south of Ensenada.
One of the brother’s phones was also allegedly found in the hands of a 23-year-old woman who is currently assisting the police.
Baja California State Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez would not confirm whether they were suspects or witnesses, but said abandoned tents found by investigators linked them to the missing men.
Andrade Ramirez told a news conference in Mexico on Friday that “at the moment, all lines of investigation remain open.”
“It breaks our hearts”
Parents Martin and Debra Robinson said Friday they will aim for the US and Mexico to be “as close as possible” to the area where their children were last seen.
“Callum and Jake are beautiful human beings. We love them so much and it breaks our hearts,” they said in a statement.
They revealed the siblings attended the Coachella music festival a week before crossing into Mexico from San Diego, planning to “surf for a few days.”
“Our only consolation right now is that they were together doing something they passionately love.”
There are particular concerns for Callum as he is a type 1 diabetic.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade urged people to exercise a high degree of caution when traveling to Baja California “due to the threat of serious crime.”
Drug cartels are known to operate in the region, and the state’s attorney general said “all lines of inquiry” remain open.
In 2015, West Australian surfers Adam Coleman and Dean Lucas were killed, believed to have been shot by gang members in the neighboring Sinaloa region, before their van and bodies were burnt.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, as well as Opposition Foreign Spokesman Simon Birmingham and Washington Premier Roger Cook expressed their concern for the surfers’ safety and wished them a safe return.
– with AAP and Reuters
