They did not disclose the nationalities of the victims. More than fifty people were intercepted by the authorities.
At least nine migrants were found dead on the Rio Grande border following dozens of them tried to cross from Mexico into Texas near Eagle Pass, authorities said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Mexican officials made the discovery Thursday while responding to reports of a large group of people crossing the river.
Heavy rains in recent days had caused particularly fast currents. US officials recovered six bodies, while Mexican teams recovered another three, according to a CBP statement.
The agency said 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 other potential portal victims, CBP said.
CBP did not indicate which country or countries the migrants were from or provide any additional information regarding the rescue or search.
Local Texas agencies that were involved did not immediately respond to requests for additional information in the area of the river, called the Rio Grande in the United States.
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 a distant second place is Rio Grande Valley, with approximately 35,000.
The area attracts immigrants from dozens of countries, many of them in families with young children. Approximately 6 out of 10 arrests in the Del Rio sector were of migrants from Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua.
The sector, which stretches 395 kilometers along the Rio Grande, has been especially dangerous because the river’s currents can be deceptively fast and change suddenly. Crossing the river can be challenging even for good swimmers.
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.
Studies carried out by the International Organization for Migration and other entities point to an increase in fatalities and the number of attempted crossings. Over the past three decades, thousands of people have died trying to enter the United States at the southern border, often from dehydration or drowning.
In June, 53 migrants were found dead or dying in a tractor-trailer on a secondary highway in San Antonio, in the gravest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants crossing the border illegally from Mexico.
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