Bodies of drowned father and daughter taken away in hearse

By Deputy Chief EditorJune 27, 2019

241 1 minute read

The father and daughter drowned trying to claim asylum in the US (Picture: Reuters)

The bodies of a father and daughter who drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande have been taken to a funeral home.

Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and daughter Valeria were found dead on the river bank after desperately trying to swim into the United States.

Yesterday, the migrants were seen being loaded into a hearse in Matamoros

The pair, from El Salvador, had been trying to seek asylum for weeks at the US consulate.

Frustrated at not being able to speak to anyone, Oscar tucked his 23-month-old daughter into his t-shirt and her arms are draped around his neck as she clung to him in her final moments.

They had made it across, but Oscar tried to leave his daughter on the other side as he went back for his wife Tania Vanessa Avalos.

The bodies of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria, migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande river during their journey to the U.S., are seen inside a hearse in Matamoros, Mexico June 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso — The bodies of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter Valeria, migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande river during their journey to the U.S., are seen inside a hearse in Matamoros, Mexico (Picture: Reuters)

Workers place the body of Valeria, daughter of Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez, migrants who drowned in the Rio Grande river during their journey to the U.S., inside a hearse in Matamoros, Mexico June 26, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso — They were taken away in a hearse (Picture: Reuters)

ADDS THAT PHOTO WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN MEXICAN NEWSPAPER LA JORNADA - EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The bodies of Salvadoran migrant Oscar Alberto Mart??nez Ram??rez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter Valeria lie on the bank of the Rio Grande in Matamoros, Mexico, Monday, June 24, 2019, after they drowned trying to cross the river to Brownsville, Texas. Martinez' wife, Tania told Mexican authorities she watched her husband and child disappear in the strong current. This photograph was first published in the Mexican newspaper La Jornada. (AP Photo/Julia Le Duc) — They were found dead on the riverbank after drowning in the Rio Grande (Picture: AP)

Frightened at being left alone, Valeria threw herself into the water to go after her dad.

When he went back to get her, both were swept away in the current.

His mother Rosa Ramirez said: Ramirez said: When the girl jumped in is when he tried to reach her, but when he tried to grab the girl, he went in further … and he couldnt get out.

He put her in his shirt, and I imagine he told himself, “Ive come this far” and decided to go with her.

Tamaulipas immigration official Enrique Maciel today that his wife was in a total shock and would not be speaking to reporters.