Tragic video appears to show young migrants drowning in the Rio Grande, a deadly turn in the escalating border crisis.
The footage, captured by fisherman Jesse Vargas, shows the heads of three people bobbing in the water. U.S. Border Patrol, whose agents were standing on the shoreline nearby, said only two people died.
“You don’t have life jackets, nothing? They’re drowning these guys!” fisherman Jesse Vargas can be heard shouting at the agents.
“That girl didn’t come out no more!” Vargas continued. He used his fishing reel to save one boy, about 13 years old, but he claims a woman and two teenage boys drowned.
The incident took place after agents “foiled a human smuggling attempt,” the Border Patrol’s Laredo sector said in a Facebook post.
The post said agents saw several individuals attempt to swim across the Rio Grande river into Mexico and several were taken into custody, while others safely made it to the Mexican riverbank.
“Two individuals succumbed to the dangerous currents of the Rio Grande river and perished,” the statement said, adding the investigation is ongoing.
The incident took place Tuesday, and after posting the video, Vargas told local CBS affiliate KABB he has been getting calls from Guatemala and other Central American countries asking about the woman.
Warning: The following video contains graphic content.
This is an excerpt from the New York Post.
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