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MEXICO CITY (AP) — A morgue in western Mexico was so overcrowded and poorly run that some unidentified bodies were left to rot for two years before being autopsied, a report said Wednesday.
The Jalisco state human rights commission said that by the time the bodies were autopsied, many no longer had readable fingerprints due to decomposition.
The commission said some bodies remained in refrigerated drawers or trailers for almost four years before being buried in paupers' graves. Few attempts were made to identify the dead, even though many had ID cards in their pockets, it said.
Morgue officials said they hadn't performed DNA testing because of the cost, estimated at around $200 a body.
The commission said the morgue in the city of Guadalajara violated the rights of the victims and their families.
The case came to light in September, when neighbors complained about the smell coming from a trailer that was found to hold 273 corpses.
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