Border Patrol rescues man missing for eight days in the wilderness

Agents respond to call for assistance - save man with health issues

OCOTILLO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents teamed up with Mexican officials to save a man with medical issues who'd spent eight days lost in the wilderness.

Agents got a call from the Mexican Consulate on March 12. They say Mexican officials described a call for help from someone traveling with a group of undocumented migrants. The consulate said smugglers had abandoned a man on March 7 in the mountainous area south of Ocotillo, because he couldn't keep up. Officials say the man suffered from diabetes and a heart condition.

Agents on the ground in the area immediately began the search for the man. Border Patrol's Mountain Disrupt Unit (MDU) also joined the mission. Border Search Trauma and Rescue team (BORSTAR) took to the air to scour the region from above.

None of the teams found the man on that first day, but continued to search as part of their routine daily duties over the following days. Then, just before 8:30 Monday morning, MDU agents encountered a man in need of medical attention. It was the person agents had been looking for.

Agents called for paramedics. The man was too weak to walk after his ordeal, so agents carried him, on their shoulders, to Interstate 8. Once there, local firefighters cared for his immediate medical needs until paramedical arrived to take him to the hospital.

Once the man is well enough to be released, he'll be taken into Border Patrol custody for processing.