HispanicBusiness

The bodies of 17 members of a band were found in a well in northern Mexico four days after they disappeared from a state in the grip of drug cartels.

The bodies of the members of Kombo Kolombia were found in the 15-metre-deep well on an abandoned ranch, a spokesman for the state government of Nuevo Leon said Tuesday.

One band member managed to escape and inform police. The motive behind the kidnappings and killings remained unclear with the lone survivor serving as the authorities' main source of information.

The survivor told police that the band, which plays a mix of Mexican and Colombian folk music, had played Thursday night in Potrero Chico when about a dozen armed assailants stormed in and took the band away in vans.

He said they were driven over roads and dirt paths for about four hours, the Nuevo Leon spokesman said.

During the drive, the band members, including the survivor, were beaten and asked if they used drugs or had ties with a gang, he said. Then, they were forced to their knees at the ranch and shot, said the survivor, who said he managed to escape in the confusion.

The bodies were found Monday in Mina, a few kilometres from where the band was kidnapped. One of its members was Colombian.

Relatives of band members told Mexican media they had received threats.

Several singers, particularly those who play Norteno music or the drug gang-themed songs known as "narcocorridos," have been killed in recent years.