Mexico to check bodies' DNA in Australian surfers case

Mexican authorities will test DNA from two burned bodies to check if they are those of two missing Australian surfers, as a fundraiser was launched to help their parents travel to Mexico.

The charred van belonging to Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, both 33, was found last weekend in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, a Pacific coast region plagued by drug gang violence.

Two corpses were in the vehicle, raising fears about the fate of the two surfers.

"We have requested the collaboration of the attorney general's office and (DNA) samples from both bodies have been sent to get their genetic profiles," Sinaloa state chief prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera told Radio Formula.

"Authorities in Australia are helping us to get the genetic profiles of their parents and the (DNA) will be compared here in Mexico."

More than $52,000 have been raised in just two days through the fundraising website www.gofundme.com in order to send their parents to Mexico and pay for their expenses, including possible funeral costs.

"We are currently raising funds to help support both families in getting over to Mexico and bringing Dean and Adam back home to WA (Western Australia) safely," said the page set up by someone identified as a close friend of Coleman's family.

Lucas and Coleman were last reported in the Sinaloa town of Topolobampo on November 20 after arriving there on a ferry from the Baja California peninsula.

They were on their way to the western city of Guadalajara during their surfing trip but failed to arrive on their scheduled date, according to their families.

The burned van with Canadian license plates was found some 225 kilometers (140 miles) south on a rural road in Navolato.

The two men had been living and working in Edmonton, Canada, and drove from there to Mexico for the surfing trip and to join Coleman's Mexican girlfriend, Andrea Gomez, in Guadalajara, according to the Australian Associated Press.

- 'Tragic event' -

"We do have very grave concerns for their fate," Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told the Nine Network on Monday, adding that family members would be traveling to Mexico to help with the identification.

The Australian foreign affairs department issued a statement on Sunday on behalf of the families saying that they were aware of reports that the van had been located and that "a tragic event has occurred."

"The families hold deep fears for the safety of their sons but stress that they are still waiting for details to be confirmed," the statement said.

The state is home to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel led by fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who broke out of a maximum security prison in July.

While tens of thousands of Mexicans have been killed or gone missing in nearly a decade of drug violence, violent attacks on foreign tourists are less common.

In July 2014, the decomposing body of Franco-American Harry Devert was found with signs of strangulation in the southwestern state of Guerrero, six months after he went missing while crossing the country on a motorcycle. He had traveled from New York, hoping to reach Brazil for the World Cup.
Source: AFP