Man survives 20 hours in canal after being shot, authorities say


DONNA, Texas -- Sheriff's deputies answering a call about an apparent dead man in an irrigation canal were surprised to find him clinging to life despite a gaping gunshot wound to the head.

An irrigation district employee spotted the man about 4:30 p.m. Monday, authorities said. The deputies found him delirious and holding on to the side of the canal embankment. All but the man's head, shoulders and arms were submerged. There was a pool of blood in the middle of a nearby road and a trail of blood to the canal.

As deputies approached, they saw the man move slightly and realized he was alive.

The man was airlifted to a Harlingen hospital, where he remained Tuesday still battling for his life, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino said.

The man told police he was an illegal immigrant who had crossed the Rio Grande, about two miles away, on Saturday. He is believed to be about 35. He said he had been in the canal about 20 hours.

"He said someone hurt him, and that he ended up in the canal," Trevino said.

Trevino said the hole in the man's head was several inches wide and likely caused by a shotgun blast. He said the pellets missed the man's carotid artery, which supplies blood to the head and neck, by 2 centimeters.

"So, he's extremely lucky," Trevino said. "I don't know how in the world that boy survived."

Trevino said the matter was being investigated. He said the area is known as one where drug dealers and other criminals dump bodies.

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Information from: The Monitor, http://www.themonitor.com

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