Mexican Government Erects Rescue Towers To Watch For Migrants In Danger

May 22, 2002

MONTERREY, Mexico- The Mexican government is erecting solar-powered rescue towers that will glow at night to help migrants lost in the desolate stretches of the Mexico-U.S. border, the director of the National Institute of Migration announced Wednesday.

Felipe de Jesus Preciado, speaking in Mexico City, said the 100-foot high towers will be visible from up to 6 miles away.

The stations will be equipped with information for locating water, food and shade. The units will offer maps to help migrants orient themselves and tell rescue authorities where they are. Mexico's rescue squad, Grupo Beta, will check the towers every two hours, Preciado said.

Since the U.S. Border Patrol started watching the 2,000-mile border more closely in the past decade, more than 300 illegal migrants have died each year while attempting to cross - most from exposure or drowning.

The first of 10 towers will be erected in the municipality of Altar, Mexico, across from the remote deserts of Arizona, the current hot spot for illegal border crossers.

Mexican officials also will be meeting with their U.S. counterparts this week in Tucson, Arizona, to share information on better ways to save migrants who have run into trouble.

The U.S. Border Patrol has been working on water-rescue training and equipping vehicles with lifesaving gear and emergency provisions.
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