US authorities have confirmed a woman has plummeted to her death while attempting to scale a border fence.
Officials from San Diego told local outlets that an unnamed woman had been found dead near Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Friday, 15 September, at around 2:31 pm.
The US Border Patrol claimed that she was trying to climb part of the 30-foot fence which is situated west of the Tijuana International Airport.
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As per Fox 5 San Diego, the anonymous woman successfully scaled a 17-foot wall before falling from the second which separates the United States from Mexico.
Speaking to the news outlet, immigration volunteer organiser, Pedro Rios, said: "People more and more are facing traumatic life-altering injuries when they fall, and they injure themselves, or death as the case of this woman.”
The Mexican Consulate in San Diego said that fatal and significant injuries are apparently up by 162 per cent in the last three years since the 30-foot wall was erected during the Trump administration.
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"They anticipated, I believe, that border falls would occur, and that that would be a deterrent, and we don't see that actually happening," Rios said.
However, last year, San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel told NBC 7 that the steeper border fence was necessary.
At the time she said: “It’s a high fence so you don’t want to cross it, but it’s also tall enough that our agents can see through and see what’s coming at them.”
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Right now, the name, nationality and age of the deceased woman has not been released, and it's currently unknown whether she was alone or with anyone else.
As per a report by U-C San Diego, there have been at least 16 falling deaths and more than 400 injuries at the border in San Diego since 2019.
The Mexican border death news comes just weeks after a tourist was shot dead while accidentally jet skiing across the border of Algeria and Morocco.
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The maritime border between the two countries had been closed off since 1994, as both parties struggled with diplomatic issues and disputes over border relations.
However, on 29 August, two tourists reportedly got lost and strayed into Algerian territory while jet skiing on holiday in Morocco.
The duo, identified as Bilal Kissi and Abdelali Merchouer, reportedly drove into the forbidden territory and were shot at by Algerian coastguard, Smail Snabe.
It’s reported by the Moroccan website Al Omk, that Kissi and his friend Merchouer were hit ‘by five bullets’, which eventually led to their deaths.
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As per reports, it is not known whether the case regarding the French-Moroccan dual nationals will be taken outside of Moroccan or Algerian territories for judicial proceedings.
Topics: Police, US News, World News
Ella Scott