Migrants wandered desert for days, running out of water before Arizona rescue, agents say

Two migrants from Guatemala were found suffering with leg and back injuries after walking through the desert for several days, border officials said in an April 19 news release.

Agents from U.S. Border Patrol’s Arizona Air Coordination Center received a call about the migrants at around 2 p.m. on April 14, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in the release. The two migrants, a man and a woman, had been in the desert for several days and were in the Baboquivari Mountains near Tucson at the time of the call.

The migrants ran out of water and could not walk any more, the release said. Border officials used WhatsApp to locate the migrants, and agents from Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue initiated a rescue operation at around 4 p.m., according to the release.

Rescue crews arrived at the scene around 7 p.m. An air crew located the migrants in the Baboquivari wilderness, secured them in rescue vests and helmets, and lifted them out. They were taken to a baseball field in a nearby town, where they were “treated for dehydration and blisters on their feet,” the release said.

The Baboquivari Mountains are about 54 miles southwest of Tucson.

This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Migrants wandered desert for days, running out of water before Arizona rescue, agents say."