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Officials on both sides of the US-Mexico border searched for more victims Saturday after at least nine migrants died while trying to cross the rain-swollen Rio Grande, a dangerous border-crossing attempt in an area where the river level had risen by more than 2 feet in a single day, Associated Press reported.

US Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials discovered the victims near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday, following days of heavy rains. U.S. officials recovered six bodies, while Mexican teams recovered three, according to a CBP statement. It is one of the deadliest drownings on the U.S.-Mexico border in recent history.

The river, which was a little more than 3 feet (90 centimeters) deep at the start of the week, reached more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) on Thursday, and the water was flowing five times faster than usual, according to the National Weather Service.

The CBP said US crews rescued 37 others from the river and detained 16 more, while Mexican officials took 39 migrants into custody. CBP did not say what country or countries the migrants were from and did not provide any additional information on rescue and search operations. Local agencies in Texas that were involved have not responded to requests for information.

Among the bodies recovered from the river by Mexican authorities was a man and a pregnant woman, although their nationalities were unknown, said Francisco Contreras, a member of Civil Protection in the Mexican border state of Coahuila. No details were released about the third body found.

The Border Patrol’s Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, is fast becoming the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. Agents stopped migrants nearly 50,000 times in the sector in July, with Rio Grande Valley a distant second at about 35,000. Eagle Pass is about 140 miles (225 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio, according to Associated Press.

Chief Patrol Agent Jason Owens of the Del Rio sector said that despite dangerous currents from recent rainfall, Border Patrol agents in the sector continue to encounter groups as large as 100 or 200 people trying to cross the Rio Grande each day.

“In an effort to prevent further loss of life, we are asking everyone to please avoid crossing illegally,” Owens said in a statement.

Among the reasons the area has become popular for migrants in recent years is that it is not as strongly controlled by cartels and is perceived to be somewhat safer, said Stephanie Leutert, director of Central America and Mexico Policy Initiative at the University of Texas’ Center for International Security and Law.

“It might be a different price. It might be seen as safer. It might keep you out of cities that are notoriously dangerous,” Leutert said. “Those cities (in the Del Rio sector) definitely have had a reputation as being safer than say, Nueva Laredo.”

The area draws migrants from dozens of countries, many of them families with young children. About six of 10 stops in the Del Rio sector in July were migrants from Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua. The region also has been a popular crossing point for migrants from Haiti, thousands of whom have been stuck in border towns since 2016, when the Obama administration abruptly halted a policy that initially allowed them in on humanitarian grounds, Associated Press reported.

The sector, which extends 245 miles (395 kilometers) along the Río Grande, has been especially dangerous because river currents can be deceptively fast and change quickly. Crossing the river can be challenging even for strong swimmers.

“There are places when the water levels are down where you could wade across, but when the river is up it’s extremely dangerous, especially if you’re carrying kids or trying to help someone who is not a strong swimmer,” Leutert said.

In a news release last month, CBP said it had discovered bodies of more than 200 dead migrants in the sector from October through July.

This year is on track to break last year’s record for the most deaths on the US.-Mexico border since 2014, when the UN International Organization for Migration began keeping record. The organization has tallied more than 4,000 deaths on the border since 2014, based on news reports and other sources, including 728 last year and 412 during the first seven months of this year, often from dehydration or drowning. June was the fourth-deadliest month on record, with 138 fatalities, according Associated reported.

The National Examinations Board has published the results of the grade 12 on Friday. As per the results, 4,171 students secured GPA between 3.61 to 4. Similarly, 30,107 students obtained GPA between 3.21 to 3.60. None of the students secured GPA 4.0. Around 40, 000 students had appeared the examinations held from May 30 to June 8.      

Nepal logged 206 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Friday. According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 595 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 134 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 274  people underwent antigen tests, of which 72 tested positive. The Ministry said that 398 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours. As of today, there are 2, 891 active cases in the country. The Ministry said that 2, 735 people are staying in home isolation while 156 are in institutionalized isolation and 41 are undergoing treatment at the Intensive Care Unit.

The Sudurpaschim Province Government has announced a public holiday today on the occasion of Gaura Parba. A meeting of the Council of the Ministers of the Sudurpaschim Province Government held Thursday decided to announce a public holiday for today in all the government and public institutions in the province, Spokesperson at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Law Bishnu Dutta Awasthi said. Earlier, different social organizations and political parties had criticized the provincial government for curtailing the public holiday being given on the occasion of Gaura Parba. Meanwhile, all nine local levels in the district of Kanchanpur have given a public holiday on Gaura Parba. Gaura Parba is a major festival of the Sudurpaschim Province and it is believed that Gauri Devi or Parbati got married to Lord Shiva Maheshwar as she observed fasting with devotion to get Lord Shiva. Since then, this festival is being observed in memory of the marriage of Gauri Devi and Lord Shiva Maheshwar. On the first day of the festival, the married women mark the beginning of the festival by soaking five types of grains in water in a copper pot. The collection of the five grains including wheat, peas, and black gram is known as Biruda in the local dialect. And, Biruda is received as Prasad. As per the tradition, the second day is a day of fasting during which the women prepare the portraits of Gaura Devi or goddess in the wee hours by visiting the source of water or well.