US authorities are investigating the death of a woman caught trying to scale the border wall from Mexico to Arizona, local media reported today.
According to The New York Times, the 32-year-old migrant was “trapped” in the 30-foot steel border fence west of Douglas, Arizona.
Cochise County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carol Capas said the victim was from Hermosillo, a city in Sonora state about 110 miles south of the US border.
Authorities have not released any further details about the deceased but plan to do so when they contact her family.
The woman had climbed to the top of the border fence using a ladder, but when she tried to climb down to the US side, she appeared to be stuck, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
He was wearing a climbing harness and his foot or leg got caught in the wall. “She was trapped upside down for a long time,” the sheriff’s office reported.
Rescue workers managed to bring the woman down and tried unsuccessfully to revive her. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, authorities said.
According to the International Organization for Migration, which documents these types of deaths, at least 650 people died trying to cross the border last year.