Aussies missing during Mexico surfing trip

The discovery of two bodies in a burnt out van in Mexico has heightened fears they may be two Australians who’ve been missing for more than a week.

Friends of the surfing tourists are heading to Sinaloa, the drug gang-plagued state, to check the identities of the men.

Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were travelling from Edmonton, Canada to Mexico and were scheduled to arrive on November 21 in the city of Guadalajara but failed to appear. The surfers were driving through Sinaloa when they went missing.

Coleman’s girlfriend, Andrea Gomez, told The Associated Press that she and Lucas’ partner, Josie Cox, will go to the Sinaloan capital of Culiacan on Monday to see if two bodies are the men.

“Everything points to it being them because the van matches, it had a bicycle,” said Gomez.

“But nothing is confirmed yet. Josie is arriving from Canada today and early Monday we are going to leave for Culiacan to see the bodies and do DNA tests.”

She said that Cox was bringing Lucas’ dental records for matching and she had “pieces of dreadlocks” that Coleman had given her.

The pair had been scheduled to meet Gomez in Guadalajara, Jalisco just over a week ago but never arrived. She said they put out an alert on social media after reporting the men missing.

She said she was contacted by someone who said the men had been seen on the night of November 20 in a 24-hour convenience store in the town of Los Mochis, Sinaloa looking for a map.

Sinaloa, home of the powerful cartel led by fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, stretches down Mexico’s Pacific coast and would be on the route of most road trips to Guadalajara from Vancouver, where the men had apparently acquired the van.

“They were hurrying to get here, that’s why they were travelling at night,” she said, adding that the person who told her about the sighting in Los Mochis also told her about the burnt van being found.

She said they continue to receive messages from people who say they saw them “but we don’t know that is true and what is not”.

A statement from Australia’s foreign ministry said that consular officials were working with Mexican authorities to locate the two men.

Authorities in Sinaloa have not provided information on the case

The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to the families and issued a statement on their behalf on Sunday, saying they were aware the van had been found and a “tragic event” had occurred.

“The families hold deep fears for the safety of their sons, but stress that they are still waiting for details to be confirmed,” they said.

Their last confirmed sighting was when they got off a ferry at Topolobampo, on the Gulf of California, on November 20 at 10pm.

“They are very keen and confident surfers from Australia and may have gone in search of waves in remote villages close by,” Ms Cox wrote on Friday.

Ms Cox posted on Sunday that she had learned Mr Lucas was going to propose to her.

A social media campaign has been launched to try to find the men, with concerned friends using #FindDeanandAdam to share images of the pair.

The men were driving a blue and white campervan with Canadian registration plates.

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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