U.S. Customs & Border Protection Helicopter Pilots Airlift Seriously Injured Migrant From Remote Area To Hospital
EL PASO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air Marine Operations El Paso Air Branch helicopter pilots rescued a female migrant suffering from a heat-related injury in a remote area near Sierra Blanca.
It happened June 16, when AMO pilots were on patrol and found a group of 30 non-citizens in a remote area 87 miles Southeast of El Paso. The aircrew guided U.S. Border Patrol Agents to the group and upon arrival the agents found the unresponsive woman. She was suffering from some type of heat injury in need of immediate medical attention.
"Customs and Border Protection Air Marine Operations Branch pilots were able to make this life-saving rescue with the help of our U.S. Border Patrol partners. If we had not located the injured woman in time, the afternoon heat could have proved fatal for this poor woman," said John Stonehouse, Director, Air and Marine Operations El Paso Branch. "Human smuggling organizations continue to illegally push these vulnerable migrants across the border in the deserts and mountains of West Texas and New Mexico in 100 degree plus weather placing their lives in danger. They often abandon these people in remote areas without food or water. It demonstrates just how little concern these criminal organizations have for the safety and wellbeing of the people they exploit."
Due to the remote location and serious condition of the woman, the air crew determined evacuating her by air was the best course of action. The AMO aircrew, along with a Border Patrol Agent, transported the woman to Culberson County Hospital in Van Horn.