San Diego firefighters rescued five Mexican migrants Monday from a flooded storm drain near Border Field State Park.
Border Patrol agents spotted the three men and two women entering the drain in the Canyon Del Sol area at the border around 1 p.m.. The agents called San Diego Fire-Rescue for help because of the rising water.
The water level was so high that only the migrants’ heads were visible in the quarter-mile long drain. All five suffered from hypothermia and were taken to local hospitals for treatment.
This is the same cross-border drainage system that smugglers attempted to use on Thanksgiving night to smuggle 17 people into the United States.
The Border Patrol said smugglers often put migrants at risk when helping them cross the border illegally.
