Volunteer searchers looking for missing persons found a dozen skeletons and one decomposed body dug in a desert near a western Mexico.

The team was in the middle of a second search Thursday when it came upon the gruesome findings across five pits in the resort town of Puerto Peñasco.

Prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said late Thursday that two of the bodies may be women. Tests are being conducted to determine the gender and identity of the bodies.

Volunteer group searching for missing persons discovered 12 skeletons and one decomposed body Thursday in the western Mexico resort town of Puerto Peñasco

The prosecutor for the state of Sonora said two of the bodies were probably women

Searchers of Puerto Peñasco, a group is made up of relatives of missing people who investigate reports of clandestine burial sites, discovered 13 bodies in five different pits

Prosecutors said only one of the bodies was relatively recent. The others were 'complete skeletons with clothing.'

The bodies were found by a group of women known as the Searchers of Puerto Peñasco. The group is made up of relatives of missing people who investigate reports of clandestine burial sites.

Because of deficient police investigations, such volunteer groups have been responsible for discovering mass graves and burial pits in many parts of Mexico.

Most of the skeletons that were found in the secret pits were fully clothed, according to the Sonora state prosecutor

The resort town of Puerto Peñasco is located on the Gulf of California

Puerto Peñasco has been known for Sinaloa drug cartel activity and a large-scale shootout between cartel gunmen and military forces occurred there in 2013

Drug and kidnapping gangs use such pits to dispose of the bodies of victims or rivals.

Puerto Peñasco is also known as Rocky Point. It is located on the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of Cortéz.

While not as violent as some other parts of Mexico, Puerto Peñasco has been known for Sinaloa drug cartel activity and a large-scale shootout between cartel gunmen and military forces occurred there in 2013.

Volunteer searchers made the gruesome discovery of 12 skeletons and a decomposed body near the resort town of Puerto Peñasco, which is located on the Gulf of California