Otay Mesa

Woman dies after falling from border fence near Otay Mesa Port of Entry

U.S. Border Patrol arrived at the border fence near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry to investigate an apparent fall on Sept. 15, 2023. (Google Maps)

A woman fell to her death after climbing over the U.S.β€”Mexico Border fence around 2:31 p.m. on Friday, according to U.S. Border Patrol.

The woman fell from the wall near Drucker Lane and Siempre Viva Road, the San Diego Police Department said.

Her fall took place west of the Tijuana International Airport and near the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

This week, hundreds of migrants arrived at the border area to attempt to seek asylum in the U.S. It was the biggest group to arrive at the barrier since the end of Title 42 in May.

Little is known about the woman who fell to her death Friday afternoon, but a Tijuana migrant shelter worker said incidents like this are examples of desperation felt by migrants, many of whom trekked for days or even weeks to make it to the U.S. border.

"When they come her to Baja Claifornia, to Tijuana, the San Diego border, they find out this (Baja California) is one of the states that has more deaths and it's not secure for them, so they get desperate," said Albert Rivera, founder of Agape Migrant Shelter.

At least sixteen falling deaths and more than 400 injury incidents have been recorded at the border in San Diego since 2019, according to UC San Diego.

Rivera said there are nearly 7,000 migrants at shelters in Tijuana waiting for their chance to apply for asylum in the U.S.

This is a developing story. Keep refreshing the page as NBC 7 will continue to update this page as more information arrives.

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