Four charred bodies discovered near an Ecuadorian military camp were identified on Tuesday as four youngsters who were last seen being dragged into a military patrol car.

On Tuesday, a judge in Guayaquil ordered the imprisonment of 16 air force members accused of involvement in the youngsters’ disappearance. If convicted, they may spend up to 26 years in prison. The youngsters, aged 11 to 15, were identified as Saúl Arboleda, Steven Medina, and brothers Josué and Ismael Arroyo. They were reported missing after playing soccer on December 8. “The results of genetic forensic tests confirm that the four bodies found in Taura correspond to the three teenagers and a boy who disappeared after a Dec. 8 military operation,” according to Ecuador’s prosecution agency.

Surveillance footage showed the youngsters being seized by soldiers. According to the military, the lads were detained for a brief time and then released in good health. Last Monday, officials stormed the Taura facility, seizing the vehicle used to transport the boys as well as the troops’ phones. The boys’ disappearance has horrified South Africa and provoked protests against the military, which has been cracking down on violent criminal organizations.

“Nothing will ease the parents’ pain, and nothing will remove the mark of murder from all those involved, directly or indirectly,” Guayaquil Mayor Aquiles Alvarez stated. “The truth is, this country has reached rock bottom. Paradigms have been disrupted, but only to exacerbate the problem. It makes you want nothing, and everything hurts,” Alvarez explained. President Daniel Noboa, who ordered the crackdown on narco gangs throughout Ecuador, where kidnapping, extortion, and murders have become common, stated that the four boys would face no impunity in their case. The defence ministry and armed forces have also agreed to participate with the probes.

“What pain to close the year with this tragedy that mourns the country,” the prefect of Guayas Marcela Aguiñaga wrote on X. “It is unacceptable that the lives of our children end this way. Let fear not silence us, and let solidarity become the voice that demands justice so that something like this never happens again.”