Colombian woman dies while crossing remote stretch of desert west of Tucson in record-breaking heat

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Arizona said they responded to an emergency call at 5:19 p.m. on July 11 in a remote area of the desert near milepost 147 on Arizona State Route 86, about 27 miles west of Tucson.

Members of the U.S. Border Patrol's specialized search and rescue team located the woman who was conscious, but lethargic and vomiting, according to CBP. They began treating her for heat stroke, and transported her on a stretcher through rough terrain to a patrol vehicle, before loading her in an air ambulance waiting near the community of Three Points.

The chopper transported her at 7:13 p.m. to Banner University Medical Center in Tucson. She was admitted at 3:15 a.m., but doctors pronounced her dead at 6:24 a.m. from cardiac arrest. The Colombian woman's identity has not been released.

Deaths and rescues along the Sonoran desert spike during the summer months. July in particular has been hotter than normal, with record-breaking temperatures along many parts of Arizona.

The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, which tracks migrant deaths along southern Arizona, has recorded the recovery of 103 migrant remains so far in 2023. In 2022, they reported the recovery of 171 remains.

On Friday, John Modlin, the chief patrol officer for Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, published on X, the social media formerly known as Twitter, that agents in the Tucson Sector had conducted 43 rescues this past week alone and apprehended more than 11,000 people.

Heated issue: Border Patrol's caging of migrants in record heat decried by advocates

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Colombian woman dies attempting to cross desert west of Tucson