A global campaigning organization says that almost 3,000 people have gone missing in Syria since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad more than four months ago.
A survey by the online activist group Avaaz.org estimates that one person is disappearing in Syria every hour. The group released the survey results in a statement on Thursday.
It says it has identified 2,918 Syrians arrested by security forceswhose whereabouts are now unknown.
Activists say more than 1,600 people have been killed, most of them unarmed protesters.
Although the uprising began in mid-March with calls for reform, the steadily climbing death toll and slow pace of reform has enraged the protest movement now calling for Assad's ouster.