Police fears two bodies found in burnt van

Friends of two Australian tourists missing for more than a week in Mexico will travel to drug gang-plagued Sinaloa state following a report that the pair’s burnt-out van had been found with two bodies inside.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade(Dfat) issued a statement confirming that the pair’s vehicle had been found, but did not confirm reports that two bodies had been found inside the burnt out van.

A bicycle was found strapped to the back of the burnt van, similar to the one Mr Lucas and Mr Coleman had taken on their trip.

“They were hurrying to get here, that’s why they were travelling at night”, she said, adding that the person who told her about the sighting in Los Mochis also told her about the burned van being found.

Before they mysteriously disappeared, Mr Lucas and Mr Coleman were on a road trip to Guadalajara to see Mr Coleman’s girlfriend Andrea Gomez.

“I definitely don’t doubt that something has happened, something that we should be anxious about, which is exactly why I’m here”, Lucas’s girlfriend, Josie Cox, said Saturday in Edmonton, about her social media campaign to find the men.

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

“I had told them of insecurity, but never told them of the disgusting things that could happen”.

Home to one of Mexico’s most significant worldwide drug trafficking and organised crime syndicate, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican state has both benefited and lost out from the distribution of cocaine and other drugs the organisation specialises in.

The pair was last spotted on November 20, getting off a ferry at Topolobampa at 10pm.

“The families and partners are aware the van in which they were travelling has been located by Mexican authorities and that a tragic event has occurred“, DFAT said.

“They’re such good guys and such good people”, she told Canada Global News.

Her Facebook post has been translated into Spanish and is being circulated online. “We ask for privacy during this enormously hard time”.

Family members of Mr Lucas and Mr Coleman will travel to Mexico in the coming days and are working with Australian consular officials and Mexican authorities.