10 Workers Of a Canadian Miner Abducted In Sinaloa: 'Security Response Teams Are Actively Engaged'

10 Canadian miners have been abducted in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, authorities confirmed.

The incident took place on January 24. Vizsla Silver Corp. confirmed the incident took place at its project site in Concordia.

"Local authorities have been notified and the company's crisis management and security response teams are actively engaged," the company noted in a statement.

"The company's immediate priority is the safety and wellbeing of the individuals involved," it added. The project has been temporarily suspended as a "precautionary measure."

The company didn't disclose the identity or nationality of those abducted. Their ages range between 30 and 65, local outlets detailed.

"We want to tell the relatives of the victims that the entire Cabinet will not stop searching for them and that we are participating (with state authorities) in the investigation," said Mexican security secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch.

As noted by Infobae México, the families have not received extortion calls or ransom demands yet. They also do not know exactly what clothing the missing workers were wearing at the time of the abduction. The families are calling for an intensified search that includes more agencies such as the army and the navy. "We want support, for more people to be involved in the search. It's not one or two people. It's 10 workers who were there to work, to provide food for their families," said the wife of one of the victims in an interview.

The situation is reeling from another incident as well, in which three local lawmakers were shot.

The two episodes prompted Mexico's federal government, which announced that the Secretariat of National Defense deployed 1,600 soldiers to Sinaloa.

Among the troops deployed to Sinaloa are 90 members of the Special Forces Corps, known in Mexico as "Murciélagos" (bats). In announcing the deployment, the Mexican army said the troops were transported by air from various parts of the country to Mazatlán and Culiacán.

Originally published on Latin Times