HARLINGEN, Texas —  The bodies of four men and a woman _ all believed to be illegal immigrants who drowned in the notoriously treacherous Rio Grande while trying to slip into the United States _ were pulled from the rain-swollen river.

The bodies were recovered Monday after a Mexican fisherman spotted them and notified U.S. authorities.

Authorities said it was unclear whether the victims tried to wade across or were using a raft. The current had been made rough by recent rain.

The most recent Border Patrol statistics show 38 drownings in the Texas stretch of the river between October 2005 and Sept. 15, 2006.

The river's calm surface is notoriously deceiving, and illegal immigrants drown trying to cross each year, said Todd Fraser of U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

"What seemingly looks like calm, tranquil waters can be very deadly,"he said."I think that part of the process of educating people on both sides of the border that the waters are very dangerous is also letting them know that the people most likely telling them, `Hey, you can make it across,'are smugglers who are making money off people's suffering."

In September 2004, two Border Patrol agents drowned after their boat capsized while they were patrolling the river.

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