Sixteen migrants drowned trying to cross a swollen river in northern Panama, the country’s president, Jose Raul Molino, announced Thursday, giving an updated toll.

The Panamanian border guard (SENAFRONT) had initially announced, yesterday Wednesday, that it had located the bodies of 10 migrants.

He did not specify their nationalities.

The tragedy unfolded in the coastal province of Kuna Yala, near the border with Colombia, an area covered in rainforest that has become part of the route taken by migrants trying to reach the US.

The bodies of the migrants were buried by residents, without informing or consenting to the authorities; the latter suspect this was done in collaboration with traffickers.

“Burying bodies without notifying the authorities is a criminal offence” and should “be investigated”, Mr Moulino said.

SENAFRONT reported yesterday that “international organized crime, with the help of local actors” traffics migrants through “unauthorized crossings, putting the lives of these people at serious risk”.

“That’s the danger they run when they go off controlled routes,” commented President Molino. “This does not mean that controlled routes are a panacea (…) however, the less monitored they are, the less protected they are,” he ruled.

On July 11, Panamanian authorities announced that they had closed a number of border crossing points used by migrants, mostly Venezuelan citizens, but also citizens of Haiti, Ecuador, Colombia, and even China. They said they would redirect the migrants to “humanitarian transit” and then take them on to international organizations and agencies such as the Red Cross, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). ).

To reduce migration flows, the US signed an agreement with Panama on July 1, which provides for $6 million in funding for migrant repatriations. The issue of illegal immigration has become a central issue in the campaign ahead of the November 5 election.

Deportations of immigrants on charter and commercial flights are expected to begin “immediately,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security official Marlene Piñeiro said Tuesday.