Panamanian authorities announced today that 26 migrants have died in Panama’s eastern jungle province of Darien this year after entering the country from neighboring Colombia in search of better living conditions in North America.
The director of the State Border Service (Senafront), Oriel Ortega, explained via Panamanian TVN that the bodies found are mostly victims who perished while trying to cross the region’s mighty rivers.
Ortega said that more than 17,000 children had crossed the Panamanian Darién route this year, 303 unaccompanied children and most adolescents between 15 and 17 years old.
Ortega also condemned the recent incident of an attack on migrants in the Darién, in which a six-year-old Venezuelan child died from a gunshot wound.
He pointed out that indigenous Panamanians were involved in the incident and that there were also reports of the presence of people with Venezuelan and Colombian accents among the attackers.
The Senafront representative explained that they had worked with the indigenous population to seek some form of control to prevent attacks.