SAN DIEGO — Customs and Border Patrol officials responded to a mass casualty incident at the Southern Border on Saturday that left several migrants injured.
At least 10 migrants were injured after falling from the border wall. San Diego Fire-Rescue said the incident happened at around 4 p.m. near the Tijuana River Valley.
“It’s absolutely dangerous," said immigration rights advocate Pedro Rios.
When crews arrived at the scene they found 10 people with various injuries. Some suffered broken bones.
“We ended up transporting 10 patients utilizing six ambulances to area trauma centers to be evaluated for multiple types of injuries," said SDFD Battalion Chief Oscar Rodriguez. "All the patients were treated as they could here and then transported.”
Officials said some of the migrants had children. All of them were kept together and taken to trauma centers throughout the county.
“We see cases on a daily basis of people that are injured from having fallen or burned their hands using the ropes to come down the border wall," said Rios.
Rios said he was at the border wall before the incident happened.
“When I was there, I saw about 130 people that entered and I asked how they crossed, and they said by scaling the border wall," he continued.
Rios said he believes the weather might have played a role.
“The rain yet hadn’t fallen in the quantity that we’ve seen throughout the day, and so it’s likely that the slipperiness of the border wall led to people falling the way they did," he added.
Border patrol officials recently installed new anti-climbing technology in the western-most portion of the border wall that aims to stop people from scaling the wall.
WATCH RELATED: Two injured in border wall falls over the weekend (Oct. 23, 2023)