B.C. travellers hunker down inside Mexican resorts as cartel violence erupts in Sinaloa state

B.C. tourists in Mazatlán sought refuge in their rental homes and resorts on Friday from the violence erupting in the Mexican state of Sinaloa after the arrest of an alleged drug cartel leader.

Kelowna’s Pat Hayden said his first inkling that something was wrong was when the doorman of his hotel advised him Thursday to be careful as he ventured out in the popular resort town.

“I noticed two black columns of smoke in hills nearby,” the 69-year-old told Postmedia News. “The doorman told me those were from cars bombed by grenades.”

Mexican forces captured Ovidio Guzman, a son of cartel boss Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman, in the early hours of Thursday, which prompted shootouts in the nearby city of Culiacan. Alleged cartel members were also setting vehicles ablaze.

Colleen Hennessy, who is travelling with a group in Mazatlán, came across burning vehicles that were used by drug cartels to blockade roadways to the beach Thursday.