World

Estimated 26,122 people missing in Mexico

05:41 am on 28 February 2013

The government in Mexico estimates that 26,122 people have gone missing since December 2006 - a period dominated by drug killings.

The figure is much higher than previous government estimates. The list includes more than 20,000 ongoing investigations, but 5206 still have to be verified.

The list covers the period between 1 December 2006 - 30 November 2012.

The BBC reports that in many cases, the missing could have been immigrants who went to work in the United States without telling their family.

A war on drugs was declared by President Felipe Calderon after his election in 2006.

Some estimates put the number of people to have died over the past six years at as many as 70,000.