The body of a man who drowned in the Rio Grande was found Wednesday in the floating barrier of buoys installed by the state of Texas to deter migrant crossings from Mexico, officials said.
It was not immediately clear how the man, who was not identified, ended up in the barrier, which runs for roughly 1,000 feet in the middle of the river in the small border city of Eagle Pass.
Mexican officials said in a statement that they had been alerted by the Texas state police around 2:35 p.m. that the body had been discovered “caught in the southern part of the buoys.”Officials from the Texas Department of Public Safety, whose officers patrol the banks of the river around the barrier, said the man appeared to have drowned farther up the river and then floated down.
“Preliminary information suggests this individual drowned upstream from the marine barrier and floated into the buoys,” said Steve McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety.
“There are personnel posted at the marine barrier at all times in case any migrants try to cross.”
Persons:
“, ”, Steve McCraw
Organizations:
Texas Department of Public Safety, Department of Public Safety
Locations:
Rio Grande, Texas, Mexico, Eagle