Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
- An unusually high number of migrants have been found dead at the US-Mexico border this summer.
- The remains of 43 people have been discovered along Arizona's border region last month, according to nonprofit group Humane Borders.
- Blistering heat waves across the West Coast and the East Coast made last month the hottest June on record in the US.
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An exceptionally high number of people believed to be migrants have been found dead this summer at the US-Mexico border amid an intense heat wave that's been broiling the southwest.
The remains of 43 people have been discovered along Arizona's border region last month, the Associated Press reported, citing the nonprofit organization Humane Borders, which tracks the recoveries of bodies in the Grand Canyon State with data from the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office.
Blistering heat waves across the West Coast and the East Coast made last month the hottest June on record for the US, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Arizona was among the eight states in the nation that saw its hottest June on record, according to the agency.
Humane Borders mapping coordinator Mike Kreyche told the Associated Press that not all 43 of those who were found dead died in June.
At least 16 of them had been dead for a day, while another 13 of them had been dead for less than a week at the time they were discovered, Kreyche said.
The death figures by Humane Borders are more than the number of deaths reported by the US Border Patrol, according to the Associated Press, which noted that Border Patrol only counts the bodies it handles in the course of its work.
The number of human remains found so far this year at the US-Mexico border is already outpacing the number of bodies discovered during the same period last year, with 127 found in 2021 compared to last year's 96, Kreyche said.
The most commonly listed cause of death among those found is exposure, the Associated Press reported.
There has also been an uptick in migrant deaths in Texas this year, according to the news outlet.