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Two persons including a policeman were injured when a group of dacoits, who came to rob an industry, and police personnel exchanged fire at Bhaluhi in Jitpur-23 of Bara district on Saturday. Sub-Inspector Kamal Bahadur Shahi of the Area Police Office, Jitpur was injured when the dacoits attacked him with an iron rod. Shahi, who sustained a deep cut on his head, is undergoing treatment at the Birgunj Health Care Hospital in Birgunj. Based on information that Aerotech Pvt Ltd is being robbed, a police team reached the site. However, the robbers attacked them with rods and also fired a round of bullets, DSP Hobindra Bogati of the District Police Office, Bara said. The police team also fired three rounds of bullets in retaliation, he said. Police said that they have apprehended two persons involved in the robbery. Police have also recovered a home-made pistol, a loaded gun and three rounds of bullet from their possession. Among the arrestees, one was injured in police firing. He is receiving treatment at the Simara-based Alpine Hospital, DSP Bogati said. He said that a group of 12 to 13 persons had barged into the industry last night. Police said that they are looking into the case.

An 18-year-old woman of Biratnagar Metropolitan City-14 was returning home after celebrating her birthday on Thursday. The program to celebrate the birth anniversary was organized at a hotel in Biratnagar. After the birthday party, one of her friends said that he will drop her home. But, she could not reach home safely. She was gang raped on her own birthday. A group of people intercepted a motorbike she was riding pillion at Mahato Tole in Jatuwa of Biratnagar-14. They, under the influence of alcohol, took both the rider and the pillion rider under control and started beating them. DSP Deepak Shrestha of the District Police Office, Morang, said that the incident occurred at 9: 45 pm. The rider somehow managed to escape from them. The same group, however, raped the woman, DSP Shrestha said. The youth reached a village and asked help from the villagers. Later, those who were involved in the heinous crime fled the scene after the locals started gathering in the village. Police said that the motorbike rider sustained injuries on his head and face among other parts of the body. The woman also sustained injuries on various parts of her body. Both of them are undergoing treatment at the Biratnagar-based Koshi Hospital. Police said that they have arrested a person involved in the crime. The suspect has been identified as Santosh Mandal (29) of Biratnagar-14. DSP Shrestha said that they are searching for other people involved in the incident.

Four Nepalis passengers were killed while 14 others suffered injuries when a speeding truck rammed into a stationary double decker bus from behind on Bahraich highway near Mahngupur village under Rampur police station limits in Barabanki district early on Saturday. The injured included two minors, three women and nine men, Hindustan Times reported. Barabanki additional superintendent of police (ASP) Purnendu Singh said the incident occurred when the tyre of the bus carrying around 60 passengers got punctured and the driver was changing it at around 3.30 am. The bus was heading from Nepal to Panjim (Panaji), Goa. He said three deceased were identified as Prem Tharu, Sheetal Tharu and Chakra Bahadur Bali while the identity of the fourth one was yet to be ascertained. He said eight injured passengers were undergoing treatment at Barabanki district hospital while six critically injured ones were admitted to trauma centre of King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow, according to Hindustan Times. The ASP said the remaining passengers were made to stay at a roadside eatery where police made food and other arrangements for them. He said the administration was making arrangements to send the survivors back to Nepal.  

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.