Deaths of migrants attempting to cross Mexico-US border river rise to 17

A total of 17 Mexican and foreign migrants drowned from January to May of this year while attempting to cross the Rio Bravo on the border between Mexico and the United States, Mexico's National Institute of Immigration (INM) reported on Saturday.

Four of the bodies recovered by INM agents were originally from Mexico, two from Guatemala, and one from Honduras. Authorities have not been able to identify the countries of origin of the remaining 10 deceased as their remains lack any identifying characteristics, the INM said.

The agency reported that the victims included 16 men and one woman, all adults, who in nine cases drowned in the section of the river that borders the Mexican state of Coahuila and the other eight in the section that borders the state of Tamaulipas.

In 2019, INM agents recovered the bodies of 29 adult migrants from the river, of which only nine were identified as six Mexicans, one Honduran, one Cuban, and one Belizean.

Experts have said that deaths of migrants in the Rio Bravo or in the desert along the common border have increased over the last decade due to a greater influx of migrants and higher levels of surveillance by the United States.