They found 10 migrants who drowned in the Darien forest

(CNN Spanish) — At least 10 people in Panama’s Darien forest may be migrants, Samira Gozain, director of the country’s national migration service, said Wednesday.

The official told local press that the National Border, Aeronautical and Migration Services have recovered several bodies in recent weeks. “Unfortunately, we have recovered about 10 bodies (…) from the rivers.”

Some “insist on continuing to cross despite the strong rivers,” Gossin added. He said that as of Wednesday, about 170,000 migrants had entered the Darien forest on the Panama-Colombia border irregularly.

“20% of that population is children, 50% of the population is under 5 years of age, newborns. We have seen mothers walking the path with their newborn babies and facing grave dangers,” the migration director explained.

The official explained that he does not have information on all the migrants entering the jungle from Colombia, “so we don’t know how many people may have stayed in the jungle, because we don’t know how many to expect.”

Gozaine said he does not rule out that migrants are sometimes stopped, and that the Panamanian government is working on a campaign to provide accurate information about what it means to cross that dangerous route.

The official said, “The number of migrants has decreased slightly. (This Tuesday) 790 people entered through the route, which we continue to think is due to flooding in the rivers.