Published January 14, 2015
The bodies of two Border Patrol agents were found early Tuesday along the Rio Grande after their boat capsized, agency officials said.
The discoveries were made almost 36 hours after the agents were lost in the waters along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Both bodies were found before dawn, said Daniel Doty, public affairs officer for the U.S. Border Patrol (search) at McAllen.
Senior Border Patrol Agents Travis W. Attaway, 31, of D'Hanis, Texas; and 29-year-old Jeremy Wilson of Ferndale, Wash., disappeared Sunday afternoon when their boat capsized near the Free Trade Bridge (search) at Los Indios.
On Monday, searchers began dragging the bottom of the unusually turgid river to look for the agents. McAllen sector Border Patrol Chief Ramon Ortega had changed the status of the mission from rescue to recovery after more than 18 hours of searching a 10-mile area with boats, helicopters, horse patrols, and search dogs.
Both agents were found along the river's edge, with the body of one found about 2 a.m. and the second located some hours later, according to Harlingen television station KGBT.
Ortega said three agents were on regular patrol near the Los Indios International Bridge on Sunday when their boat capsized at about 2:40 p.m. The bridge is in a rural area about 10 miles south of Harlingen.
The river was exceptionally high following several days of heavy rain, Ortega said.
The 19-foot Predator boat (search) that capsized was recovered on Sunday.
After other agents aboard a second boat heard a distress call, they rescued Capt. Javier Sandoval within minutes by throwing out some ropes. Sandoval, 38, of Brownsville, was reportedly doing well at Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, where he was expected to be discharged as early as Tuesday.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/2-border-agents-found-dead-in-rio-grande