Sunshine Away

Two young children swept into a flashflood while inside an auto with their mother have yet to be found and are presumed drowned.

On Wednesday night, January 20, the two children (Virginia Cruz Mendez, age five, and her brother Hector, age two) were flushed out of the vehicle by a torrent of rainwater during a sudden deluge that poured through the colonia Los Laureles. The children's mother managed to survive. Their overturned a vehicle, a Honda Civic, was found hours after the incident in a canyon on top of a pile of rocks, mud, and trash.

Mexican authorities have been searching the runoff areas and storm drains for the past three days. Bernabe Castellanos, in charge of directing the rescue crew by Tijuana firemen, said that the crew has searched some eight kilometers of riverbed and canal, and they are now approaching the U.S. border.

The Mexican searchers have called upon the Border Patrol to assist them in their efforts to recover the two children. The rescue team hopes that the red tape that impedes such cross-border cooperation can be rapidly eliminated. U.S. search-and-rescue crews may take over the task on the U.S. side, but as yet, this has not been decided.

Source: Frontera