Workers confirmed dead

As many as eight young workers were confirmed dead yesterday in Mexico after they apparently tried to quit jobs at a call centre operated by a violent drug cartel that targeted Americans in a real estate scam. US and Mexican officials confirmed the brutal story that unfolded late last month when relatives of the youths reported them missing after they did not return from work in an office near the western city of Guadalajara. Suspicions rose last week when heaps of hacked-up body parts were found in plastic bags. Forensic examiners in the state of Jalisco said in a statement Tuesday that tests had confirmed the bodies belonged to the missing call centre workers.