Thread: Man is too wide for tunnel on border

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstat ... 69556.html

Man is too wide for tunnel on border

He and four others become trapped in a San Diego storm drain while attempting illegal passage.

SAN DIEGO -- The path to the United States for 14 people trying to sneak in from Mexico was blocked not by Border Patrol agents or barbed wire, but by a man's hips.

The group had tunneled into U.S. drains from Mexico, U.S. and Mexican authorities said, and two made it across the border.

Trouble was, a nearly 200-pound man was third in line and became stuck at the hips as he tried to squeeze onto U.S. land.

"I'd tell you that was poor planning," said James Jacques, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, when asked why one of the biggest members of the party had been put near the front of the line.

The blockage trapped four people behind the man, prompting firefighters to use jackhammers to widen the opening of the drainage tunnel and free the man, Jacques said.

The other four were then pulled out. All appeared uninjured, although one woman was taken to a hospital because she was sick from "breathing stuffy air," said Maurice Luque, a spokesman with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

It took about two hours to free the five, who were all in their 20s, Luque said.

Seven more people who were behind that group managed to crawl back into Mexico through the tunnel.

Border Patrol agents had noticed the 14 gathering on the Mexican side shortly before 7 a.m. They moved in to apprehend the first two after they emerged on the U.S. side and found the five others trapped.

The tunnel, only about 2 feet across, is part of San Diego's storm drainage system.

He said a tragedy easily could have occurred in the narrow tunnel, which emitted a fetid, dirty water smell at its opening. Upon arriving, firefighters checked to make sure the air inside was breathable, and they were prepared to break open the entire tunnel if it wasn't.

"This to me illustrates how little smugglers care about human life," Jacques said at the scene. "They risked these people's lives, and that's unconscionable."

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