Mexico recalculates number of people missing since 2006 at 21,000, down from 28,000

MEXICO CITY – Mexico has recalculated the number of people who have gone missing since the start of the country’s drug war in 2006, lowering estimates to 21,000 from around 28,000.

Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong says more than 14,000 people have been found alive and about 750 confirmed dead.

That dropped the total of missing from the previous administration to about 13,000.

But another 8,000 people have disappeared since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in late 2012, yielding the current running total of about 21,000.

Osorio Chong said late Thursday many people who had filed missing persons reports didn’t update them when their relative re-appeared.

It is unclear how many of those still missing were kidnapped or killed by drug gangs, which frequently bury their victims in clandestine graves.