3 migrants drown entering Panama near Darien Gap

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Three migrants drowned while crossing into Panama from Colombia. The dead included a 16-year-old Venezuelan woman, and two men, one from Colombia and one from Venezuela. Panama’s National Immigration Service said Tuesday that the migrants were apparently carried away by the strong currents of the Rio Armila, just a few miles (kilometers) from the border with Colombia. The accident occurred in an area where migrant smugglers frequently allow migrants to rest before continuing their journey. Hundreds of migrants are believed to have died in the Darien Gap, where thieves, rivers, hard climbs and wild animals are frequent.