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20 rescued, 1 dead along California-Mexico border

Posted at 12:32 PM, Nov 30, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-30 15:32:33-05

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Authorities have rescued 20 people they say tried to illegally enter the United States from Mexico through a rain-swollen storm drain system.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says authorities also found a person dead at around 2:30 a.m. Friday on a beach along the mouth of the Tijuana River in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego.

It’s unknown if the two incidents are connected.

The rescues began Thanksgiving night during a storm after a border agent saw three people trying to cross the border through a drainage culvert.

Authorities learned that others were trapped and lost in the rapidly filling drainage pipes. Thirteen were rescued through a manhole. Several others were rescued at around 1 a.m. Friday.

Authorities say eight were taken to hospitals, at least one with life-threatening injuries.