US border agents save three migrant teenagers from 'perilous canal' in Texas

Officials secured water safety line to perform rescue

Officials secured a water safety line and rescued two teenagers while a CBP canine officer assisted the third (US Customs and Border Protection)

Three migrant teenagers have been saved from a “perilous canal” in Texas after trying to enter the United States, US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has reported.

According to the agency, the three teenagers, one 17-year-old and two 18-year-olds, were attempting to elude border control and enter the country.

The incident occurred on Friday just after 1am when El Paso Border Patrol Agents saw the three teenagers just west of the Paso Del Norte international crossing, according to a press release.

“CBP Officers who were conducting northbound train inspections at the railroad crossing, spotted them entering the American canal,” the agency wrote in a statement.

The migrants were said to have been swept away by the canal’s current, finding themselves in “extreme danger in the cold and swift moving waters.”

A CBP canine officer had to pull one of the teenagers, who was swept under a canal gate, to safety, according to the statement.

A Border Patrol Agent with assistance from the CBP officers secured a water safety line and rescued the other two teenagers.

All three of the teenagers were Mexican nationals, according to CBP.

“Interagency cooperation is an integral part of CBP. In this case the immediate reaction by our agent and the three CBP Officers saved the lives of three individuals who were trapped in the dangerous swift currents of the American canal,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I Chavez said.

“The inherent danger with attempting to cross into the United States illegally is present, not only in isolated desert areas, or in the hands of criminal organisations but also in the swift waters of the American Canal.”