Ten migrants died due to the rise of a river in an isolated area of Panama near the Caribbean coast and the border with Colombia, the border police (Senafront) reported on Wednesday. "In the river tributaries near the community of Carreto [in the indigenous region of Guna Yala], 10 bodies of migrants who drowned as a result of a flash flood (river rise) were observed," Senafront said in a statement.

"Transnational organized crime, through local collaborators in these coastal Caribbean communities, insists on using unauthorized routes, putting these people's lives at serious risk," the statement added. The note does not specify if the deceased had crossed the Darién jungle—turned into a corridor for migrants trying to reach the United States—or if they arrived by boat. It also does not specify the nationalities of the victims.


In 2023, more than half a million people crossed this jungle, according to official figures, despite dangers such as fast-flowing rivers, wild animals, and criminal groups that rob, rape, and kill. Most of the migrants crossing the Darién are Venezuelan, but Ecuadorians, Colombians, Haitians, and Chinese are also prominent. Panamanian authorities are unaware of the exact number of people who die on this journey due to the terrain's inaccessibility and because sometimes the bodies are devoured by animals.

AFP
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