At least eight migrants were found dead in the Rio Grande (or Rio Grande) after dozens tried to cross from Mexico and reach Texas near Eagle Pass, authorities said.
Officials from the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Mexico released the news while dealing with a large group of people crossing the river. Heavy rains in recent days have caused particularly fast currents.
Six bodies were collected on the US side; in the Mexican, two, according to a CBP statement.
Separately, US teams rescued another 37 people from the river and detained 16 more while Mexican authorities took 39 migrants into custody.
Officials on both sides of the border continue to search for any possible victims, CBP said.
CBP did not indicate which country or countries the migrants were from, nor did it provide any additional information about the rescue or the search.
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Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, is fast becoming the busiest corridor for illegal crossings: Agents apprehended migrants in the sector nearly 50,000 times in July. In second place is the Rio Grande Valley with approximately 35,000.
The area attracts immigrants from dozens of countries, many with families with young children. Approximately 6 out of 10 arrests in the Del Río sector were of migrants from Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua.
The sector, which stretches 395 kilometers along the Rio Grande, has been very dangerous because the currents can be deceptively fast and change suddenly.
In a press release last month, CBP said it had discovered the bodies of more than 200 migrants in the sector from October through July.
