Bodies of man, girl found floating along canal in El Paso’s Lower Valley

Two bodies were found floating in a canal in El Paso’s Lower Valley on Tuesday night, raising the death toll to seven along area waterways over a four-day period.

The latest bodies were discovered the area of 10000 Southside Road near El Paso’s Jonathan W Rogers Water Treatment Plant, police said.

The victims were identified by police as a man in his 30s and a pre-school aged girl. The relationship between the two was not immediately known.

Firefighters participating in water rescue training discovered the two bodies floating in the canal — and authorities said the man who died was wearing life jacket.

On Monday, four men were found dead in an irrigation canal that diverts water from the Rio Grande to farmers in southern New Mexico and west Texas.

Border Patrol agents discovered three of the bodies in a tunnel adjoining the canal, near a section of the waterway that runs along the U.S.-Mexico border. An additional body washed up on the bank of the canal upstream.

The first discovery occurred on Saturday, when police found a woman’s body floating along a canal in Socorro.

The rash of suspected drowning deaths in recent days come as more migrants are coming across the U.S.-Mexico border, and more water is flowing through the canals, authorities have said.