Mexico morgue left bodies to rot for 2 years before autopsy

A state human rights commission says 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.

By then, the corpses no longer had readable fingerprints.

The Jalisco state commission says 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.

The commission said in a report published Wednesday that 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 carrying 273 bodies.