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| Photo Credit: AP. |
(AP) - At least eight migrants were found dead in the Rio Grande after dozens attempted a hazardous crossing near Eagle Pass, Texas, officials said Friday.
U.S. Customs
and Border Protection and Mexican officials made the discovery Thursday while
responding to a large group of people crossing the river following days of
heavy rains that had resulted in particularly swift currents. U.S. officials
recovered six bodies, while Mexican teams recovered two others, according to a
CBP statement.
The agency
said U.S. crews rescued 37 others from the river and detained 16 more, while
Mexican officials took 39 migrants into custody. Officials on both sides of the
border continue searching for any possible victims, the CBP said.
CPD did not
say what country or countries the migrants were from and did not provide any
additional information on the rescue or search. Local agencies in Texas that
were involved did not immediately respond to requests for additional
information.
The Border
Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, is fast becoming the
busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Agents stopped migrants nearly 50,000
times in the sector in July, with Rio Grande Valley a distant second at about
35,000.
The area
draws migrants from dozens of countries, many of them in families with young
children. About 6 of 10 stops in the Del Rio sector in July were migrants from
Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua.
The sector,
which extends 245 miles (395 kilometers) along the RÃo Grande, has been
especially dangerous because river currents can be deceptively fast and change
quickly. Crossing the river can be challenging even for strong swimmers.
In a news
release last month, CPD said it had discovered bodies of more than 200 dead
migrants in the sector from October through July.
Surveys by
the U.N. International Organization for Migration and others point to rising
fatalities as the number of crossing attempts have soared. In the last three
decades, thousands have died attempting to enter the United States from Mexico,
often from dehydration or drowning.
In June, 53
migrants were found dead or dying in a tractor-trailer on a back road in San
Antonio in the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across
the border from Mexico.
Associated
Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.