San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents rescued a migrant woman who sustained serious injuries after falling into a canyon near the Mexican border.

Border Patrol agents apprehended a Honduran national on December 19, who illegally crossed the border in the Otay Mountain Wilderness. During an interview, the Honduran man said he was traveling with a woman who fell into a steep canyon and suffered serious injuries. He said the fall occurred several hours before agents arrested him, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The agents immediately initiated a search and rescue operation and requested assistance from CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) due to the vast mountainous area covered by dense brush and rocky terrain. The agents also contacted San Diego Sector’s Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Team (BORSTAR).

BORSTAR agents responded, along with an AMO Pilatus PC-12 fixed-wing aircraft and an AS350 A-Star helicopter, to perform the search operation.

After about four hours (9 a.m.) later, the A-Star crew located the injured woman and guided ground-based teams to her location, officials said. When the BORSTAR agents arrived, they observed the woman’s condition and noted she was in an out of consciousness. The agents rendered medical assistance to the migrant woman and requested an air-hoist from an AMO UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.

The Blackhawk aircrew lifted the woman out of the canyon at about 10 a.m., officials reported. They transported her to Brown Field Airport where a local ambulance waited to take to her to a nearby hospital. Officials reported the woman sustained multiple traumatic injuries from her fall.

“If not for the quick response by Border Patrol agents and the skillful air search and helicopter hoist extraction by Air and Marine Operations agents of this seriously injured woman, she would have perished on this mountain,” San Diego Director of Air and Marine Operations Hunter Davis said in a written statement.

The number of migrants rescued by Border Patrol agents rose significantly during the most recent fiscal year which ended on September 30. During that period, agents rescued more than 4,300 illegal immigrants who put themselves in life-endangering situations, Breitbart News reported. On average, agents rescued about 12 migrants per day. In the first two months of FY 2019, that number jumped 74 percent, Border Patrol officials told reporters during a conference call on December 14.

Breitbart News reports extensively on the rescue of migrants by the Border Patrol. Frequently, agents put their own lives at risk when migrants place themselves in dangerous situations. In a recent example, a McAllen Station agent came under attack from migrants throwing large rocks as he attempted to rescue a pregnant woman who had crossed the border.