MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Two journalists abducted in a drug cartel stronghold in southern Mexico have been freed, but the whereabouts of a third is unknown, authorities said Thursday.

Security forces located Jesus Pintor Alegre and Fernando Moreno Villegas in good health more than two weeks after they disappeared, the Guerrero state prosecutor’s office said.

A rescue operation involving the military and National Guard was believed to have led the abductors to release the men, a statement said.

It said the search continued for Alan Garcia Aguilar, who works for the same news website and also went missing on December 27 in a region controlled by the Familia Michoacana drug cartel.

In a video posted days earlier by unknown persons on social media, Moreno and Garcia appeared chained hand and foot.

Moreno stated that they were “paying the consequences” for their reporting in the violent southern region.

Mexico is considered one of the world’s most dangerous places to work as a journalist.

Since 2000, more than 150 journalists have been murdered in the North American country, according to media rights group Reporters Without Borders.