One dead, five hurt while trying to scale border fence in Otay Mesa

OTAY MESA —  One man was killed and five others injured early Friday while trying to scale a U.S.-Mexico border fence in Otay Mesa, authorities reported.

Border Patrol agents called paramedics to the scene about 4:40 a.m. near Drucker Lane and Kerns Street, San Diego Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz said. The agents said they were performing CPR on an unconscious man who had fallen, she said.

The unidentified man appeared to be in his 30s, authorities said.

Five others, including a woman in her 30s and another in her 50s, were taken to hospitals with injuries, Muñoz said. Their conditions were not immediately known.

The San Diego Sector Border Patrol office issued a statement confirming that the man who died fell from a secondary fence west of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Outbound Commercial Facility.

Border Patrol officials said several agencies responded to the scene, but did not provide further information about the incident.

The two trauma centers that receive most border-wall patients — UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest and Scripps Mercy Hospital — saw a more than five-times increase in such patients in 2019 through 2021, compared with the three years prior, according to data provided by both institutions and analyzed by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

City News Service contributed to this report.