Updated

Mexico says it will work with the International Red Cross on the search for thousands of people who have disappeared during the country's six-year war on drug cartels.

Officials provided few details of the arrangement signed Thursday and did not release a copy, but one Interior Department official said the search would include the creation of a database with genetic information from relatives of the disappeared.

Human Rights Watch released a report Wednesday that describes 249 cases of disappearances, most of which appeared to have been carried out by the military or law enforcement. The same day, Mexican officials said they had a preliminary count of more than 27,000 people reported missing over the last six years. The majority of those are blamed on drug cartels or smaller gangs.