28 people go missing in Mumbai daily for past 2 years

MUMBAI: They are the lost and the unendingly mourned. An average of 28 people went missing from Mumbai every day of the last two years, the highest among Maharashtra's 35 districts. Hardly any have been traced so far.

Hidden in these cold numbers, activists say and police admit, is a tale of human trafficking continuing unabated. Of the 20,682 people who disappeared from the city in 2009 and 2010, a majority were women. And among them, it was women in the age group of 19-35 who were the biggest victims—5,654—according to police figures released under RTI.

Disturbingly, the numbers are rising. In 2009, 2,741 women between the age of 19 and 35 went missing; the figure rose to 2,913 last year. Across Maharashtra, the same group has grown to 12,819 in 2010 from 11,295 the previous year.