‘Please help me.’ Mom, daughter die in Arizona desert after 911 plea, officials say

A desperate 911 call from the Arizona desert ended in the deaths of a mother and daughter who had crossed the border from Mexico seeking asylum, officials say.

The 37-year-old woman and her 10-year-old daughter were found dead after calling for help Aug. 25, KNXV reported. A 2-year-old boy survived. The family was from Colombia.

“Please help me, I’m going to faint,” the woman told 911 dispatchers, according to the station. One of her children can be heard saying, “Mommy, I’m hungry.”

U.S. Border Patrol agents responded to the woman’s GPS coordinates, but she and her daughter had died, Al Dia reported. The boy was taken to a hospital.

They were found east of the international border on the Cocopah Reservation, Arizona’s Family reported.

The family had flown from Colombia to Tijuana and then crossed the border by land, according to Al Dia.

But a smuggler abandoned them in the desert, KNXV reported. The woman’s husband, who lives in Florida, told the station she was determined to join him in the U.S.

The temperature in Yuma reached 111 degrees Aug. 25, Accuweather reported.

Border Patrol agents warned of the dangers of extreme heat to migrants crossing the border in a news release, citing more than 100 deaths this fiscal year in the Rio Grande sector.

“Distressed migrants abandoned by smugglers are left in desolate areas when they are unable to keep up with the rest of the group,” the release said.

“The terrain is extreme,” U.S. border patrol agent Jesus Vasavilbaso told KNXV in an earlier story about conditions in Arizona. “The temperatures can be really high up to 115 degrees.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 11:30 AM with the headline "‘Please help me.’ Mom, daughter die in Arizona desert after 911 plea, officials say."