The bodies of five state-owned Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) employees have finally been found at a company factory where a fire broke out last month in the state of Veracruz, authorities announced on Saturday.
The last three missing bodies were found during the search and examined by the forensic service with prior authorization from the public prosecutor’s office, Pemex said in a statement.
The five workers went missing on February 23 when a fire broke out at a drilling rig servicing a well located in the municipality of Ixhuatlán, southeast of Veracruz, on the coast from the Gulf of Mexico. Two bodies were found the next day.
Three workers were injured in the incident, one of whom remains hospitalized in stable condition, the company said.
Veracruz State Attorney General Verónica Hernández confirmed to local media the location of the bodies and added that DNA tests had already been carried out to identify them.
Hernández clarified that one of the corpses had been handed over to relatives. Authorities said they were continuing to investigate the cause of the fire.
On the same day, another fire occurred at the Maya Combined Plant of the Minatitlán Refinery, also in Veracruz, which injured five workers, two of whom later died.