http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/related/157852.php

Border Patrol rescues lost Humane Borders members
By Brady McCombs
arizona daily star

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.27.2006

Border Patrol agents rescued four members of Humane Borders Saturday night on the Organ Pipe National Monument.

At 7:45 p.m., two members of Humane Borders set off one of Border Patrol's rescue beacons in the northwest corner of Organ Pipe, according to Shannon Stevens, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesperson.

The members were worried about four other members who had not returned from a water station earlier in the day.

Humane Borders is a Tucson faith-based organization that places water tanks throughout the desert in an effort to prevent illegal entrant deaths.

Border Patrol agents found the four missing volunteers twenty minutes later, Stevens said. They were in good condition and didn't need medical care, she said.

There are 22 rescue beacons throughout the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, Stevens said. The solar powered towers stand 30 feet tall with a blue light that can be seen 24 hours a day and allow lost or disoriented people to signal for help. The beacons have a sign in English, Spanish and Tohono O'Odham instructing individuals how to activate the beacon.

Since Oct. 1, Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents have rescued 623 individuals. In that same time period, eight illegal entrants have died, down from 13 during that period the previous fiscal year, Steven said.