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Armed police on the beach in Puerto Morelos: Dead in a shootout between drug gangs
Photo: Alonso Cupul / EPA
A shootout between rival gangs on a beach near Cancun has terrified tourists in the popular Mexican holiday region.
There was a clash between hostile groups of drug traffickers in Puerto Morelos, said the Attorney General of the state of Quintana Roo on Twitter.
Two people involved were killed.
Previously, users of social media had reported that machine gun fire could be heard in a hotel on the beach - a few dozen kilometers south of the city of Cancun.
During the exchange of fire, panic broke out among the mostly foreign bathers.
Tourists staying near the beach reported that vacationers took cover when the gunfire rang out.
"The guests told me that they were playing volleyball on the beach when the gunman approached and fired shots," wrote US citizen Mike Sington on Twitter.
“Everyone ran away from the beach and pools.
The staff pushed us into hidden rooms behind the kitchens. "
"People hug and cry," said Sington, who claims to be a guest at the Hyatt Ziva Riviera Cancun Resort.
Videos on social networks also showed dozens of tourists - some of them only in swimwear - taking shelter with the staff in a hotel lobby.
It was said that the all-clear was given later.
Mexican media reported that a vacationer was slightly injured.
The attorney general stressed that no tourist was seriously injured or kidnapped.
The deed is likely to be another blow to tourism on Mexico's coast, famous for its white beaches and turquoise blue water.
Due to the corona crisis, the number of vacationers had collapsed anyway.
In addition, two tourists were killed in a shootout between rival drug gangs in a bar in Tulum - further south on the same coast - in October: a German and an Indian.
In June, two men were shot dead and a female tourist injured on a public beach in Cancun.
In the past year alone, the authorities in Mexico recorded more than 36,000 murders.
wit / dpa / AFP
