TUCSON (By Susan Carroll, Arizona
Republic) May 24, 2005 - U.S. Border Patrol agents have recovered 11 bodies
since Friday, all believed to be undocumented migrants, spread out over
thousands of square miles of scorching Arizona desert.
The dead included a pregnant young woman, whose husband tried to get smugglers to lend him a cell phone to call for help. Some were teenagers, but authorities had no way to determine the ages of others, whose bodies rapidly decomposed in near-record temperatures along Arizona's 389-mile stretch of border with Mexico.
Some died within hours of each other, falling under the heat of near-record temperatures from the sand-swept deserts of Yuma to the rolling ranch land outside Bisbee. The Border Patrol's tally of migrant deaths, calculated by the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, reached 72 and put the state on pace to break last year's record of 172.
Ron Bellavia, the commander of the Border Patrol's search and rescue squad in Tucson, said agents logged long hours in the desert and rescued dozens, including a 4-year-old girl. "They're working as hard and as many hours as they can without putting themselves in jeopardy," Bellavia said. "We have to take care of the rescuers also."
The string of deaths this weekend coincided with the four-year anniversary of the deadliest border crossing in Arizona history, when the bodies of 14 undocumented were pulled from the desert over a two-day period in May 2001. The temperature that day was 111 degrees.
"Southern Arizona has been truly blessed with a mild spring," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders, a non-profit organization that builds and maintains water stations in the desert for undocumented. "And then all of a sudden, boom."
Capt. Eben Bratcher of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, which investigated three of the deaths within a 72-hour span, described the weather as "just terrible."
The first body, found Friday night, had been in the desert a few months, officials estimated. Three undocumented caught by the Border Patrol reported spotting the corpse of the young man near railroad tracks east of Interstate 19, said Jose Garza, a Border Patrol spokesman.
To the east, about 25 miles north of the border, agents found a woman in her mid-30s who died within a three-mile hike of Arizona 286, a popular smuggling highway.
An hour later, a group of undocumented flagged down a car near Empirita Road and Interstate 10, saying a man had died off the highway. Border Patrol agents followed members of the group to the body of a young man in his late 20s.
"They had stopped to rest and sleep," Deputy Dawn Barkman, spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department, said of the group. "When they woke up, he was dead."
To the west, a young man was trying to save his pregnant wife, 24-year-old Marcela Cruz-Gonzalez, who fell ill just after crossing the border near San Luis.
"She didn't make it far," Bratcher said. The two smugglers who led the group through the desert, "both had cell phones," he said, "and refused to let (the husband) call for help."
Next, about 7 p.m., a body was reported along High Lonesome Road. Another report came in from an undocumented immigrant who led agents to his brother's body on a trail near Arizona 286, west of the Sierrita Mountains.
To the west, two men hiked out of the desert south of Tacna and told the Border Patrol the four women they crossed the border with needed help. Agents searched the desert and found the women 14 miles south of Interstate 8. Three of the women survived, but one died. She was 22.
The last two deaths were more anonymous; a body found by a rancher, and a motionless man on a trail, spotted by a Border Patrol pilot.
The dead included a pregnant young woman, whose husband tried to get smugglers to lend him a cell phone to call for help. Some were teenagers, but authorities had no way to determine the ages of others, whose bodies rapidly decomposed in near-record temperatures along Arizona's 389-mile stretch of border with Mexico.
Some died within hours of each other, falling under the heat of near-record temperatures from the sand-swept deserts of Yuma to the rolling ranch land outside Bisbee. The Border Patrol's tally of migrant deaths, calculated by the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, reached 72 and put the state on pace to break last year's record of 172.
Ron Bellavia, the commander of the Border Patrol's search and rescue squad in Tucson, said agents logged long hours in the desert and rescued dozens, including a 4-year-old girl. "They're working as hard and as many hours as they can without putting themselves in jeopardy," Bellavia said. "We have to take care of the rescuers also."
The string of deaths this weekend coincided with the four-year anniversary of the deadliest border crossing in Arizona history, when the bodies of 14 undocumented were pulled from the desert over a two-day period in May 2001. The temperature that day was 111 degrees.
102 degrees in Yuma
On Monday, the National Weather Service reported 102 degrees for a high in Yuma."Southern Arizona has been truly blessed with a mild spring," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Humane Borders, a non-profit organization that builds and maintains water stations in the desert for undocumented. "And then all of a sudden, boom."
Capt. Eben Bratcher of the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, which investigated three of the deaths within a 72-hour span, described the weather as "just terrible."
The first body, found Friday night, had been in the desert a few months, officials estimated. Three undocumented caught by the Border Patrol reported spotting the corpse of the young man near railroad tracks east of Interstate 19, said Jose Garza, a Border Patrol spokesman.
6 more bodies found
On Saturday, agents recovered six bodies, starting with 18-year-old Viridiana Herrera-Aguilar. She was sick but still alive when her husband went for help and left her on the Barry M. Goldwater Bombing Range. When agents reached her at 2:11 a.m., she was dead.To the east, about 25 miles north of the border, agents found a woman in her mid-30s who died within a three-mile hike of Arizona 286, a popular smuggling highway.
An hour later, a group of undocumented flagged down a car near Empirita Road and Interstate 10, saying a man had died off the highway. Border Patrol agents followed members of the group to the body of a young man in his late 20s.
"They had stopped to rest and sleep," Deputy Dawn Barkman, spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department, said of the group. "When they woke up, he was dead."
To the west, a young man was trying to save his pregnant wife, 24-year-old Marcela Cruz-Gonzalez, who fell ill just after crossing the border near San Luis.
"She didn't make it far," Bratcher said. The two smugglers who led the group through the desert, "both had cell phones," he said, "and refused to let (the husband) call for help."
Next, about 7 p.m., a body was reported along High Lonesome Road. Another report came in from an undocumented immigrant who led agents to his brother's body on a trail near Arizona 286, west of the Sierrita Mountains.
Same grisly scenario
On Monday, it was the same scenario. A man told agents his brother was sick in the desert and asked for help. They tracked down the sick brother at 1:15 a.m. on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, an expansive reservation southwest of Tucson that shares 75 miles of border with Mexico. When they reached him, he had died.To the west, two men hiked out of the desert south of Tacna and told the Border Patrol the four women they crossed the border with needed help. Agents searched the desert and found the women 14 miles south of Interstate 8. Three of the women survived, but one died. She was 22.
The last two deaths were more anonymous; a body found by a rancher, and a motionless man on a trail, spotted by a Border Patrol pilot.
