Border patrol agents, along with local fire and police agencies, were searching for possible additional victims a day after the Thursday incident, said Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rick Pauza, Reuters reported.
A total of 53 migrants were taken into custody by the US border patrol agents on Thursday, including the 37 rescued from the river, Pauza said. Mexican government authorities arrested 39 people.
The Rio Grande swelled in recent days due to unusually heavy rains that flooded the streets of Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Other groups of migrants also struggled on Thursday evening to cross the fierce currents of the river between Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass.
Several men from Venezuela were successful after at least an hour of attempting to ford the river’s fast waters, shirtless, with few belongings, and using a rope to help one another, yelling “Help! Help!“ once close to the US shore.
One man from the group clung to a concrete column under the international bridge for minutes after his friends made it to shore, afraid to let go as the water rushed past until his companions returned to help.
ZZ/PR
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