July 3 (UPI) — U.S. border patrol agents are searching the Rio Grande River near the U.S.-Mexico border for a missing 2-year-old migrant girl, authorities said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the search began Monday after agents detained a woman from Haiti who said she’d lost her daughter, a Brazilian national, while crossing the river.
“Anytime a child is lost it is a tragic event,” Del Rio Sector Chief Raul L. Ortiz said in a statement Tuesday. “I cannot imagine the anguish that parents of this young girl must be feeling, and I hope our search efforts pay off with a positive outcome.”
CBP said agents from the Del Rio Station and Search, Trauma and Rescue unit searched the river Monday night with assistance from Mexico law enforcement.
On Tuesday, officials deployed a remote-operated submersible, a dive team and boats to aid in the search.
The girl’s disappearance in the river follows the high-profile deaths last week of a Salvadoran man and his daughter, who drowned in the Rio Grande while crossing to reach the United States.
