2 dead in El Paso County canal drownings near border in San Elizario, Tornillo

El Paso County sheriff's detectives are investigating two separate drownings in canals close to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bodies were each found about 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, March 27, in separate locations in canals in San Elizario and Tornillo, a Sheriff's Office spokesman said.

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The drowning victims had not been identified as an investigation continued by the sheriff's Major Crimes Unit.

Sheriff's officials said that one body was located in San Elizario in the 13600 block of Petunia Drive, which runs along a canal that runs parallel to the Rio Grande. The other body was found in the 200 block of Tornillo Guadalupe Road in Tornillo. The location is near the Alamo Alto Drain and the Tornillo Canal.

A week ago on March 19, the El Paso Fire Department's Water Rescue Team saved two people in a canal near Zaragoza Road in the Lower Valley. There was a report of possibly a third person in the water, who wasn't located.

Border Patrol warns of El Paso canal dangers

Last week, the U.S. Border Patrol issued its seasonal warning about the dangers of entering canals that parallel the Rio Grande.

The river and canals are currently flowing with large amounts of water released from upstream reservoirs in New Mexico for the irrigation season. A body was found in the Rio Grande last week.

Undocumented migrants are warned against jumping into canals in an effort to evade the Border Patrol. The canals may look calm, but there are deceptively strong currents under the water's surface, officials said.

Border Patrol agents have carried out more than 240 rescues in fiscal 2024 throughout the agency's El Paso Sector, which covers El Paso and all of New Mexico, officials said.

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"Ruthless criminal smugglers continue to recklessly endanger the lives of vulnerable migrants who do not understand the dangers of illegally crossing the border and are often coerced into these unpredictable canals," El Paso Sector Border Patrol Chief Anthony "Scott" Good said in a statement. "Transnational criminal organizations treat migrants as commodity for their own selfish financial gain and have little regard for their safety."

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 2 dead in El Paso County border canal drownings