Three police officers surveying rain damage in eastern Mexico die; another remains missing

Three police officers died while checking the damage caused by the strong rains over the weekend in Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, state authorities said Tuesday. Another agent who was traveling in the same vehicle remains missing.

Municipal police officers from the town of Tepetlán, a town located in a mountainous area about 70 km from the coast, were patrolling on Sunday night, shortly before the arrival of the Tropical Storm Chris to the coast of Veracruz, Civil Protection explained in a statement.

The vehicle and the body of one of the agents were located on Tuesday, the agency said. Hours later, Leonardo Daniel Aguilar, mayor of Tepetlán, reported that two other bodies were recovered in different locations.

The police officers showed up as backup in a call for help, Aguilar said.

“There was no passage on the road and unfortunately they dared to cross,” he said. “I don’t know if there was some disaster on the other side of the river that would have made them dare to cross.”

Around 70 people, including rescuers and local residents, used machetes to make their way down to the riverbed in search of the officers.

One of them, Roberto Aguilar, explained that one of the bodies was located by ranchers in the area who were looking for a way to cross the river to get to their farms.

The search for the fourth missing person is expected to continue on Wednesday, the mayor said.

Tropical Storm Chris, which formed on Sunday, made landfall around midnight that day in the north of the state of Veracruz, causing landslides and flooding in 37 municipalities, as well as the suspension of classes.

Since late last week, heavy rains have been affecting the eastern half of Mexico, causing flooding in various parts of the country, while the southeast and parts of the Gulf states are preparing for more rain with the arrival of Hurricane Beryl, expected at the end of the week.

For days now, municipal, state and federal authorities have kept around 7,000 sites ready to be used as shelters if necessary.

At the same time, preparations began on the Mexican Caribbean coast, a very touristy area that is now in high season.

According to the government of the state of Quintana Roo, which extends along the coast and where Cancun is located, there are already more than 1,100 Navy personnel deployed at different points to carry out preventive actions. They are expected to be reinforced with civil protection personnel, water purification plants and a mobile communications center that will arrive from Mexico City.

The Navy stressed the importance of alerting all maritime service providers to ensure that there are no sailors on their vessels, something that was devastating when Category 5 Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco on the Pacific coast late last year.

More than 50 people died then and around thirty are still missing, most of them people who went to look after boats.

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