MEXICO CITY — At least one of 43 college students missing since September has been identified among charred remains found near a garbage dump, a Mexican official confirmed Saturday.

The official said he could not provide more details on how many of the students might have been identified.

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Farmers marched Friday to demand the return of 43 students who went missing in Iguala, Mexico. The Associated Press

He agreed to release the information only if granted anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

A family member of a missing student told The Associated Press that the remains were of Alexander Mora. The families were given that information late Friday by an Argentine team of forensic experts working on behalf of the relatives and with the Attorney General’s Office, said the relative, who also would speak only on condition of anonymity.

The students went missing Sept. 26 after confrontations with police that killed three students and three bystanders in the southern city of Iguala. The attorney general has said they were attacked by police on orders of Iguala’s mayor, Jose Luis Abarca, who has since been detained.

Prosecutors say the students were later turned over to a drug gang, which killed them. Detainees have told officials that they burned the 43 bodies at a dump site and scattered their ashes in a river.

The case has ignited citizen indignation across Mexico and abroad for the fact that the students disappeared at the hands of a corrupt local government and that federal authorities took 10 days to intervene.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets, some calling for President Enrique Pena Nieto to resign. It has come to signify the abuse of authority and corruption that is engrained in the Mexicans systems and that all Mexicans experience on a regular basis.

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