Mexico Kidnapping Survivors Recover In US Hospitals

Aside from the two abducted friends, two others also died in the incident. A 24-year-old Tamaulipas man was arrested, identified only as José "N". According to his wife, a Texas hospital is operating on Eric Williams' leg after three gunshot wounds, while Latavia Washington McGee is recovering in the hospital without injury.

Repatriation of bodies

In an interview with local ABC affiliate WBTW, Williams said she and her 11-year-old son felt relief when they learned their husband was alive. As she spoke, her heart ached for the other two families that could not say the same. A group of four people were travelling through the Mexican city of Matamoros on 3 March when unidentified shooters opened fire on their car.

Thursday will be when their bodies are repatriated back to the United States. Also killed in last Friday's incident was a 33-year-old Mexican woman who was more than one block away. Her relatives reported that the group crossed the border from South Carolina into Mexico to have a tummy tuck.

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Automatic weapons are heavily armed

To create confusion, the four Americans were moved from different locations between Friday's kidnapping and their discovery on Tuesday at a wooden shack outside Matamoros. Mexican military convoys heavily armed with automatic weapons escorted them back.

During her phone call with her husband, Mrs Williams reported that her husband, Eric Williams, was emotional because he had considered Brown and Woodard his "brothers". As she spoke to local affiliate WPDE, McGee cried, explaining she had witnessed two of them die "right in front of her eyes".

They were maltreated and unconscious

The kidnapping was captured on video. In it, heavily armed men drag four Americans to a pickup truck. Others appeared unconscious and were manhandled onto the vehicle. A US law enforcement source confirmed to the BBC's US partner CBS News that investigators believe the Gulf Cartel is responsible for the attack.

The US State Department advises travellers against visiting Matamoros in Tamaulipas state because of "crime and kidnapping". The medical tourism industry in Mexico is one of the most developed in the world.

Also Read: Americans Kidnapped In Mexico, 2 Dead, 2 Rescued And Back In U.s