TUXTLA GUTIERREZ (Mexico), Dec 19 ― Mothers from across Central America whose children went missing in Mexico while trying to reach the United States found 12 family members after a 16-day search, officials said yesterday.

In a tradition now in its ninth year, the “caravan” hunt for missing loved ones turned up “the most finds and reunions yet,” said Marta Sanchez of the MesoAmerican Migrant Movement.

Among the finds: tragedy for some and relief for others. There were seven reunions between mothers and their missing kids, while one woman’s child had been killed.

“The fact is there is nothing to celebrate insofar as migrants inside Mexico still are targeted, and still are getting killed,” Sanchez said.

An estimated 140,000 foreigners, most natives of Central American nations south of Mexico, enter this country illegally every year trying to make it to the United States further north. ― AFP