10 migrants drown in rushing river crossing Darien Gap in Panama

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Ten migrants drowned trying to cross a rushing river in Panama's Darien Gap that borders Colombia, Panamanian authorities said Wednesday.

The National Border Service said in a statement that the victims were swept away by the strong current and their bodies were later seen near the Indigenous community of Carreto.

An agency official who was not authorised to speak publicly about the case said on condition of anonymity that the drownings were believed to have occurred on July 16, but the area was so remote that they were only now able to release the information.

The prosecutor's office was investigating details, including the victims' nationalities, the official said. More than half of the migrants crossing the Darien come from Venezuela.

More than 500,000 migrants made the treacherous crossing through the jungle-clad border in a record-setting 2023. So far this year, more than 212,000 have entered Panama through the Darien.

It is the rainy season in Panama, making the numerous rivers that migrants have to cross more dangerous.

New Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has pledged to stop migration through the Darien with assistance from the US government.

Before these 10 deaths were announced, at least 29 migrants had died trying to cross the Darien, according to Panama's border police. Last year, police recorded 84 deaths.

Drownings occur periodically in the Darien, especially during the rainy season, but authorities said this was one of the largest drowning death tolls they can remember.

In February, five Afghan migrants drowned and one disappeared just off the coast as they tried to enter Panama by boat from Colombia.

The drownings last week came just days after the Panamanian government blocked some popular routes with barbed wire in an effort to funnel migrants to one central receiving point. In other parts of the world, including the US southwest border, enforcement efforts at some locations often push migrants to riskier, more remote routes.

The National Border Service statement Wednesday said that despite efforts to block some routes "transnational organised crime through local collaborators in Caribbean coastal communities insist on using unauthorised paths putting the lives of these people at serious risk."

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