LA Mayor pleads for safe return of veteran firefighter believed to have been 'violently kidnapped' on Mexico trip

Eric Garcetti urged potential kidnappers to safely return the Angeleno home

The mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, has appealed for the safe return of a local firefighter who is believed to have been “violently kidnapped” in Mexico.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Garcetti said firefighter Frank Aguilar was last seen in Baja California about a week ago, where he was said to live part-time.

Mexican authorities believe the 48-year-old could have been the victim of a violent kidnapping, said Mr Garcetti, who called for the LA Fire Department worker to be returned home.

“If this message gets to anybody who would dare kidnap an Angeleno who serves the people of Los Angeles, let him go and make sure that he is able to safely return to our city and to his family,” Mr Garcetti said.

The mayor added that Los Angeles was working closely with the Mexican government, the US State Department and the local consul-general in Mexico to provide any necessary support.

“[Aguilar] is somebody who has put his life on the line for us and we will do everything in our power… to ensure that law enforcement in Mexico has whatever support it needs,” said Garcetti during a news conference.

Mr Aguilar had been living part-time in Rosarito, on the Baja Californian coast, where he had spent some part of his medical leave from the LA Fire Department, reported NBC News.

He was last heard from on 20 August, when he was supposed to meet with a friend but did not return to Rosarito.

“We don’t know what we would do without him. It’s just so crazy that this is even happening in the first place, but we really just need him to come home. Like, right now,” said the firefighter’s sisters Bella and Anaris Aguilar, to NBC.

The FBI was said to be assisting a search effort after Mr Aguilar’s family filed a missing persons report with police in Tijuana, the largest city in Baja California.