Three migrants drowned as they crossed Panama from Colombia, the government said Tuesday.
Among the dead were a 16-year-old Venezuelan and two men, a Colombian and a Venezuelan.
Panama’s National Migration Service said the migrants were swept away by strong currents on the Armila River, a few kilometers from the Colombian border.
The twist of fate occurred in a place close to where the river empties into the sea and where smugglers allow migrants to rest before continuing their journey. The three of them would possibly have bathed in the river to cool off.
Local citizens and migrants then recovered the bodies.
Hundreds of migrants are believed to have died at the land crossing between the two countries through the Darien Gap, a roadless jungle territory where thieves, overflowing rivers, rugged terrain and wildlife are common.
In June, Panama’s Security Minister Juan Manuel Pino significantly increased the number of migrants crossing the Darien Gap.
In the first part of the year, 46,415 migrants were discovered crossing, to 26,216 detected in the same era of 2021.
That year, a total of 133,000 migrants passed through Panama, suggesting that this year’s total will be even higher. Most of the migrants in 2021 arrived from Haiti, while the government estimates the largest organization this year to be Venezuelans.
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