The rescue came amid growing violence against migrants in Mexico, where 72 Central and South American migrants were massacred in August as they made their way through the northern state of Tamaulipas toward the US border.

An Ecuadoran survivor blamed those killings on the Zetas gang, which is fighting a vicious turf war with its former employer, the Gulf drug cartel, in the region.

In addition to the freed Honduran illegal migrants, police also rescued a Mexican man who was also held at the same house in Villahermosa, said Silvia Gil, a spokeswoman for the Tabasco prosecutor.

Two Mexicans were also arrested for allegedly kidnapping the group on Sunday after intercepting the migrants in the southeastern city of Palenque, close to the Guatemalan border.

During their captivity, the hostages were forced to hand over information about their families in Honduras so that they could be pressed for ransom in exchange for the captives’ release, Gil said.

Nearly 10,000 migrants were kidnapped in Mexico during a six-month period last year, according to the National Human Rights Commission, whose data shows that about 500,000 foreigners enter the country illegally each year to try to reach the United States.