Tucson Region
7 bodies discovered in desert
Victims located at different sites over the weekend
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.24.2008
U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered seven bodies of suspected illegal immigrants in Arizona's desert from Friday through Sunday as the scorching summer heat raged on.
Nearly 60 others who were suffering from dehydration or lost were rescued.
Including Monday, temperatures in Southern Arizona have exceeded 105 degrees for nine straight days and exceeded 100 degrees for 10 consecutive days, said Bill Turnerof the National Weather Service. Saturday's high was 111 degrees and Friday's 109 degrees.
Agents found the bodies of two illegal immigrants Sunday, three Saturday and two on Friday, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
Sunday
At midnight Sunday, an agent came across a body about six miles east of the village of Newfield, about a mile from the U.S.-Mexican border on the Tohono O'odham Nation west of Tucson, Scioli said. It appeared as though the body had been there for several weeks, he said.
The agent found a backpack nearby, but it didn't contain any identification. The sex, age and hometown of the dead person were not known Monday, Scioli said.
Earlier Sunday at about 9:45 a.m., an agent with the Border Patrol's search, trauma and rescue team, known as Borstar, was called to the San Simon health center on the reservation. Two men from Mexico, ages 32 and 34, showed up there and said they had left a friend behind at about noon the previous day to go in search of help.
The men said their companion had little water and was wearing a red shirt and cowboy hat, Scioli said. At about 10:30 a.m., in a desert area farther north, agents found the man dead, Scioli said.
He was from Mexico. Agents didn't know his age.
Saturday
On Saturday at 9:30 p.m. near the village of Kots Kug, about 19 miles southwest of Sells on the O'odham reservation, agents found the body of an adult woman from Mexico, Scioli said.
Agents found the body after being alerted to a group in distress by other illegal immigrants. After a search that included a Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine helicopter, agents found two men and three women, including one who was pregnant. The pregnant woman needed no medical attention, Scioli said.
It's unknown how old the victim was and where in Mexico she was from, he said. She was traveling with her husband, uncle and a friend.
On Saturday at 6:20 p.m., Border Patrol agents were called out to take custody of a group of suspected illegal immigrants that Tohono O'odham Rangers had in custody, Scioli said.
On his way, the agent was flagged down by an illegal immigrant who said his cousin had crossed with him and died earlier.
The man led the agent to the body about 100 yards off the road under a tree, west of the village of Gu Vo, on the western side of the reservation, Scioli said.
The dead man was from Michoacan state, Mexico, he said.
On Saturday at 10 a.m., a Humane Borders volunteer found a body south of West Manville Road in an area northwest of Tucson, Scioli said. The victim appeared to be a man in his mid-30s, he said.
Investigators don't believe any foul play occurred, said Deputy Dawn Hanke of the Pima County Sheriff's Department. It appears as though the man died of exposure, which leads them to believe he was an illegal immigrant, she said.
Friday
On Friday afternoon, a man from Sinaloa state, Mexico, came up to agents at a checkpoint on Arizona 86, between Sells and Three Points, and told them one of the people he was traveling with didn't feel well and needed medical attention, Scioli said.
An agent and his specially-trained dog traced his footprints and found the body of a 22-year-old man from Mexico City, he said.
At 6 p.m., in another incident on Friday, a Borstar agent found eight illegal immigrants on Federal Route 34 on the Tohono O'odham reservation. They told him that a member of the group had been left behind. The agent, who also had a trained dog, followed their footprints and found a man dead nearby.
The others identified him as an 18-year-old man from San Cristobal, Mexico.
Agents rescued nearly 60 other illegal immigrants over the weekend in at least nine major rescue efforts, Scioli said. Many were flown or taken by ambulance to Tucson, Phoenix and Casa Grande hospitals.
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