9 migrants drowned trying to cross US-Mexico border – News

At least nine The settlers died Dozens of people have been rescued after drowning trying to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico to the United States, officials said last Friday.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement to AFP that a large group drowned Thursday (1st) while trying to cross the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas.

CBP confirmed that 37 people were rescued, but the bodies of nine migrants were found, three by Mexican officials and six by U.S. agents.

A total of 53 migrants were detained on the US side and 39 on the Mexican side of the river.

No information was provided on the age or nationality of the migrants.

“The search for other possible victims continues,” the office warned.

A CBP official told The Washington Post it was the worst drowning in the Rio Grande in years.

Nearly 50,000 immigrants were arrested in Eagle Pass last month, according to government data.

The city’s fire chief, Manuel Mello, told The New York Times that the migrants were swept away by strong currents about a mile south of the international bridge that connects Eagle Pass to Mexico’s Pietras Negras.

Mello pointed out that drownings are frequent in the region, reaching one per day.

The recent mass deaths of migrants highlight the perilous journeys hundreds of thousands of people make each year to reach the United States from Mexico.

In June, More than 50 died of suffocation. After being unloaded on a truck in San Antonio, Texas.