Cousin: Man dies after abandoned by smugglers

NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) - October 17, 2011 (WPVI) -- The Border Patrol says that an illegal immigrant has died from exposure in the southern Arizona desert over the weekend and that two others were rescued before succumbing to the heat.

Border Patrol spokesman Brent Cagen said Monday that agents in Nogales found a 26-year-old Mexican man unconscious in the desert on Friday afternoon. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital but died Saturday.

Cagen says the man's cousin was with him and didn't need medical attention.

The cousin told agents that smugglers abandoned the pair when his cousin couldn't keep up.

On Sunday, agents in Casa Grande also saved a 39-year-old woman who was lost in the desert and called 911 and a 38-year-old man suffering from severe dehydration and heat exposure.

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