US Expresses "Sadness and Concern" Over Mexican Migrants'Deaths

The United States expressed its sadness and concern over the 14 deaths of illegal Mexican immigrants found in Arizona desert and vowed to work with Mexico to track down smugglers, the State Department said Thursday.

"The United States of America and Mexico express their deep sadness and concern over the deaths yesterday near the border with the Mexican state of Sonora," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, while reading a statement released by the two governments.

"The governments of the United States and Mexico also express their sympathy and condolences to the victims of this terrible human tragedy and to their families," he said.

"Those who lost their lives were among a group of 28 migrants abandoned by alien smugglers after crossing our shared border," he said.

"Both governments have begun an investigation to identify the smugglers responsible for this tragedy and pledge close cooperation to find these criminals and bring them to justice," Reeker said.

The death toll was a record for immigrant smuggling in Arizona and US rescuers and doctors said high temperature and lacking of water were obviously the cause of deaths.

Immigrants Found Dead

Fourteen illegal immigrants have died in the Arizona desert in the United States after crossing the border from Mexico, said reports reaching here Thursday.

US Rescuers used helicopters and four-wheel-drive vehicles early Thursday to search for at least three missing Mexican immigrants who might be stranded in temperatures that climbed as high as 42 degrees Celsius.

Rescuers have picked up a total of 13 survivors in the border area.

Survivors said the smuggler told them to walk "a couple of hours" to a highway and abandoned them. The highway was about 100 kilometers away.

The 14 immigrants who succumbed to exposure made up the largest group of border crossers to die in Arizona in more than 20 years. In July 1980, 13 Salvadorans died.

Southern Arizona became a popular crossing point for illegal immigrants in the 1990s, after crackdowns in California and Texas pushed more people to try to enter the country through remote and dangerous areas.






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