Two men were charged Friday in connection with the discovery of 383 corpses piled up in a private crematorium in northern Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez, the local prosecutor’s office said.

The crematorium’s owner and an employee face charges related to the “burial, exhumation, and respect for corpses and human remains.”

Hundreds of bodies were found “piled up” in the building in late June, with authorities estimating some remains had been there for up to two years.

Officials initially counted 381 bodies before finding two more.

State prosecutor Cesar Jauregui told reporters Friday he had enough evidence to identify 27 bodies. “We are currently searching for the families… to inform them,” he said, adding that 148 additional bodies had been examined.

According to Jauregui, the current crematorium managers were likely overwhelmed with the flow of remains and continued to receive corpses they were unable to process.

Authorities did not specify whether the corpses belonged to victims of criminal violence.

Mexico, a country hard hit by organised crime, has been suffering for years from a crisis in its forensic system, saturated by the high number of bodies to be processed, the lack of personnel and budgetary constraints. (AFP)

PHOTO: Aerial view of the crematorium where authorities found 381 embalmed corpses in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on June 30, 2025. (Photo by Herika Martinez / AFP)