SALTON CITY, Calif. (AP) — The bodies of seven people believed to be illegal immigrants were found in the desert north of the Mexican border Thursday, apparently killed by heat exhaustion.
The people — five men, a woman and a teen-age boy — appeared to have been dead for at least three days, said Bill Strassberger, spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Daytime high temperatures have been well over 100 degrees in the area; the high Wednesday in nearby Indio was 107.
They were found near a remote two-lane highway that runs beside the Salton Sea, a route used increasingly by “coyotes” who smuggle illegal immigrants into the country for a fee.