A woman trying to illegally enter the U.S. died Friday when she fell from the secondary border fence about a mile west of the Otay Mesa border crossing, officials said. She died before she could be taken to a hospital.
A second woman trying to climb the fence shortly before 9:40 a.m. also fell and was injured, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. Paramedics transported her to a hospital. The extent of her injuries and her condition were not released.
The Mexican Consulate in San Diego said the woman who died was a Mexican national. The consulate said it was in contact with her relatives and would try to arrange for the eventual repatriation of her remains.
So far this year, the consulate said it has recorded one death and 39 injuries among Mexican nationals attempting to cross the U.S. border illegally in the San Diego area. Last year, the consulate recorded 11 deaths and 58 injuries.
“A single death is unacceptable,” Ambassador Alicia Kerber Palma, Consul General of Mexico in San Diego, said in a statement. “Assistance and protection for Mexicans abroad is the Mexican government’s highest priority.”
When the injured woman is medically cleared, agents will process the surviving woman for illegal entry, officials said.