TUCSON, Arizona – The U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector announced Tuesday that it rescued 15 undocumented migrants in the Arizona desert during the first few days of July, a period during which agents also found six bodies, presumably of migrants who perished trying to illegally enter the United States.

The rescued immigrants required medical attention because they were severely dehydrated, the Border Patrol said in a press release.

Border Patrol agents also reported the discovery of five bodies in the Tucson Sector, which includes 90 percent of the frontier region between Arizona and Mexican state of Sonora.

The immigrants apparently died of exposure in the desert, where daytime temperatures average 110 F (43 C) at this time of year.

The Border Patrol issued a call to the relatives and friends of people who are considering crossing the border illegally to alert them to the many dangers they could face on the journey.

The Arizona desert is considered by the federal government to be one of the most active routes used by undocumented foreigners trying to get into the United States from Mexico, and annually authorities report that about 40 percent of the people apprehended trying to illegally enter the country are intercepted in that area.

According to the most recent figures released by the Arizona Human Rights Coalition, during the current fiscal year, which began last Oct. 1, authorities have recovered the bodies of 96 undocumented immigrants in the Arizona border region. EFE