Daijiworld Media Network - Mexico (SR)
Mexico, Jun 26: The recently published disheartening photo of a father and his little girl, both hugged and tucked inside the father’s t-shirt and lying lifeless on the shores of the Rio Grande, part of the US border with Mexico, makes everyone wonder whether we live in a place where humanity has frozen forever. The picture of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria was published by a Mexican newspaper after their bodies were found on Monday and was shared widely in social media.
The heart-wrenching incident has once again highlighted the severe risks taken by refugees to reach safer shores.
As per sources, Martinez swam across the river on Sunday with his daughter Valeria since his family from El Salvador was unable to present themselves to US authorities and request asylum. After asking his daughter to stay put on the river bank, he swam back to fetch his wife but unfortunately the daughter threw herself into the waters. Martinez, while trying to grab Valeria, got swept away due to the water current.
According to sources, Rosa Ramirez, Martinez's mother said, “When the girl jumped in he tried to reach her, but when he tried to grab the girl, he went in further.. ... and he could not get out. He put her in his shirt and I imagine he told himself, 'I've come this far' and decided to go with her."
"I begged them not to go, but he wanted to scrape together money to build a home," Ramirez said. "They hoped to be there a few years and save up for the house."
A total of 283 migrant deaths were recorded last year at the Sonoran Desert to the Rio Grande, the 2,000-mile US-Mexico border and has been a deadly crossing between ports of entry .
The bodies were expected to be flown to El Salvador on Thursday. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday reacted to the photograph as a regrettable incident and said, “We have always denounced that as there is more rejection in the United States, there are people who lose their lives in the desert or crossing the river.” However, The Whitehouse has not yet commented anything about the incident.