Up to 25 bodies found in silver mine

? Between 20 and 25 bodies were recovered from an abandoned silver mine in southern Mexico, apparently victims of drug gang violence, federal police commissioner Facundo Rosas said Sunday.

The corpses appear to have accumulated over an undetermined time as they were tossed over a 300-foot precipice into the abandoned mine, located near Taxco, a colonial-era city popular with international tourists. The region is dotted by hundreds of mines.

Rosas said authorities were alerted to the mass grave by a suspect and they began pulling bodies from the mine late Saturday and continued their work Sunday. He didn’t give the identities or causes of death of the victims.

Police and military crews exploring the underground site wore breathing equipment to guard against the possible noxious gases in the mine.