Guadalajara: Authorities have recovered 12 bodies in a western Mexican river near a lake popular among US tourists, as suspicion about the deaths turned toward two drug gangs.

Three bodies were found in the Lerma river yesterday, after nine others were recovered in the first three days of the week, said Eduardo Almaguer, the top prosecutor in Jalisco state. “Twelve bodies have been found in the Lerma river and its mouth at Lake Chapala,” Almaguer told reporters.