Kendal Blust/KJZZ

Marchers hold a banner that says "We're the voice of the ones who are no longer here," on March 8, 2020.

Mexican officials say they believe human trafficking is driving high numbers of disappearances of women and girls in neighboring Sonora and across the country.

Calling the numbers of missing women and girls worrisome, officials with the Mexico's human rights and searching commissions said Thursday that women represent 25% of disappearances in the country. Of those nearly 60% are girls under 18.

"Sonora is one of the states with the highest number of missing women, most of whom are adolescents or young adults," said Karla Quintana, head of the National Searching Commission. "The working hypothesis for searches is human trafficking."

Most women who go missing in Sonora are young, and many share similar physical traits. But while the cases are being investigated as human trafficking, she said, the commission is still working to better understand the context.

Across Mexico, more than 85,000 people have gone missing and never been found since 2006. Sonora is among the 10 states with the highest number of disappearances, and in the top five with the most clandestine graves.