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Lake Mead reservoir in Nevada: More bodies found "probably"
Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP
The persistent drought in the US state of Nevada has unforeseen consequences: low water levels have exposed a barrel with a decades-old corpse in a lake.
Police said Monday that boaters at Lake Mead near Las Vegas discovered the rusty barrel containing human remains buried in the mud.
According to their own statements, due to personal belongings with the body, the officials assume that the person who has not yet been identified must have been killed in the 1980s.
Investigators gave no information about the objects and the dead person.
"Very Difficult Case"
"This looks like a very difficult case," police officer Ray Spencer told news site 8newsnow.com.
It is also likely that more bodies will be found as the water levels drop.
The nearby casino stronghold of Las Vegas was known as a hotbed of organized crime in the 1980s.
Mafia killers are believed to have dumped their victims in Lake Mead.
Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States.
It was created in the 1930s as part of the Hoover Dam project and supplies 25 million people with drinking water.
jpz/AFP