Mexico ? Authorities found the remains of at least 38 people in a series of pits and scattered on the ground at a suspected drug-gang dumping site near the industrial hub of Monterrey in northern Mexico, an official said Friday.

Investigators were using heavy equipment to search for more bodies at the rural site outside Mexico’s third-largest city, local media said. Photographs showed charred spots on the soil suggesting some bodies may have been partially burned.

“There are some (bodies) that can be identified, but others are not in good condition and we will have to run DNA tests,” Eduardo Saucedo, director of investigations for Nuevo Leon state prosecutors, told the newspaper Milenio.

The clandestine grave site, which was discovered Thursday, was believed to have been used by drug gangs that operate in the area.