At least 10 people injured falling from US-Mexico border wall

At least people have been injured in one day after trying to climb over the wall that sits at the border between Mexico and the United States.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said it had responded to a multiple casualty incident after Border Patrol agents reported that people were injured after falling from the fence.

The people fell from the border fence near Tijuana River Valley on Saturday afternoon. The fire department said they received a report from the border agents around 4pm, NBC 7 reports.

Ten people, aged from 18 to mid-40s, were taken to hospital after they sustained mild to moderate injuries after falling from the wall. The most serious injury was a broken leg, the fire department told Newsweek.

“We ended up transporting 10 patients utilising six ambulances to area trauma centres to be evaluated for multiple types of injuries," said SDFD Battalion Chief Oscar Rodriguez to CBS 8.

"All the patients were treated as [much] they could here and then transported.”

Out of those who were injured, four were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital.

Three of these people were travelling with five children, all under the age of 11, Chris Van Gorder, the president of Scripps Health, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

While the people were being treated, the children were provided care.

Mr Rodriguez did confirm that those who fell were accompanied by children.

"We did have some children that were accompanied there, so we did transport those children with the parents to the trauma centres throughout the city," Mr Rodriguez told NBC 7.

The more robust and taller fence started construction under the administration of Donald Trump and was a common theme throughout his 2016 campaign.

Recent data suggests that there has been a decline in arrests for illegal crossings to the US border in January, after the border patrol took 50 per cent fewer into custody than in December, according to AP.

However, doctors at the University of California, San Diego Health trauma centre, said they had treated 455 with serious injuries from trying to cross the border in 2023 alone, The Guardian reported.

In total 97 per cent of the injuries have occurred after people fell off the wall on the US side, according to Alexander Tenorio, a resident neurosurgeon at the centre, said to the outlet.

In 2019, there were only 42 reports of injuries related to people climbing over the wall, but the number has increased every year since then.

The Independent has contacted the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department for comment.