Two Australian brothers and a US tourist who went missing in northern Mexico were shot dead by thieves who wanted to steal their truck’s tyres, according to prosecutors.

Three bodies found south of Ensenada, near where the men – Jake and Callum Robinson, from Australia, and American Jack Carter Rhoad – disappeared last weekend have yet to be officially identified.

They were dumped in a remote, 15m/50ft-deep well, according to Baja California state prosecutors, who said family members of the victims are viewing the remains to see if they can be identified by sight.

“The probability that it’s them is very high,” said chief state prosecutor Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez.

The three men went missing last weekend while on a camping and surfing trip, during which they posted photos on social media of isolated beaches along a remote stretch of coast.

Ms Andrade Ramirez said thieves saw their pickup truck and tents and wanted to steal their tyres.

“Surely, they resisted,” she said, adding that the thieves shot them to death before taking them to “a site that is extremely hard to get to” and dumping their bodies into a well.

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“They may have been looking for trucks in this area,” Ms Andrade Ramirez said.

The well, near the remote seaside area where the missing men’s truck and tent were found on Thursday, also contained a fourth body that had been there much longer.

Ms Andrade Ramirez said investigators were not ruling out the possibility the same thieves also dumped the first body there.

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Prosecutors said on Friday, before the bodies were found, that three people had been arrested and charged with a crime equivalent to kidnapping.

In a Facebook message, Jake and Callum’s mother said she hadn’t been in touch with her sons since 27 April and they had been travelling with “another friend, an American citizen”.

The post, on 1 May, said they were meant to check into an Airbnb in the resort town of Rosarito after the weekend but “they did not show up”.

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She pleaded with the public to get in touch with any information, and added that Callum has Type 1 diabetes.

The US State Department said it was aware of reports of a US citizen missing in Baja, but gave no further details.

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