Texas National Guard Soldier Goes Missing While Attempting to Rescue Migrants in River

A Texas National Guard soldier has gone missing while trying to rescue migrants in a river at the state’s border with Mexico, Texas officials said Friday.

Multiple sources earlier Friday told Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin that the Texas National Guard soldier drowned in the Rio Grande at Eagle Pass.

UPDATE: Here is a brief video of the scene from one of our photographers. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/HC8XkHkLPG

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 22, 2022

UPDATE: The Maverick County Sheriff tells me the the soldier went missing in the water at around 8:30am while he was trying to save a female migrant. She survived and is now in Border Patrol custody, the soldier still hasn’t been found after more than six hours. @FoxNews

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 22, 2022

Local, state, and federal law enforcement have continued looking for the missing Texas National Guard soldier, but he has been missing for over seven hours.

Sources say the soldier is presumed to have drowned.

More video of the scene as local, state, and federal law enforcement continue to search for the missing TX National Guard soldier who went missing in the water over 7 hours ago and sources tell us is presumed to have drowned. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/ZfKybJMcxB

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 22, 2022

The incident occurred in Eagle Pass during an attempt to rescue migrants. Law enforcement sources initially told Fox News that the service member had drowned. However, the sources later said that the body that had been recovered was in fact a migrant, not the service member.

The Texas Military Department said in a statement that a soldier assigned to Operation Lone Star “has gone missing along a river during a mission-related incident.”

“The Soldier has not been found,” the statement said, calling reports of a fatality “inaccurate.”

“The Texas Military Department, Texas DPS and Border Patrol are working rapidly to find the Soldier,” the statement said.

The search is being treated as a drowning, and dive teams are still searching the water since the service member was not seen resurfacing from the river, sources told Fox News.

The Maverick County Sheriff later told Fox News that the soldier went missing in the water at around 8:30 a.m. local time while he was trying to save a female migrant. That migrant survived and is now in Border Patrol custody. However, the soldier still has not been located after more than six hours of searching.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, tweeted out an image of the guardsman’s armor, which reportedly he removed before jumping into the water.

“Please pray for the families of all those impacted,” Gonzales tweeted.