The Darien Gap: The deadly jungle trek where families risk their lives to reach America
We arrive at Las Tecas camp on motorbikes, I can see it in the distance cut from the jungle, an open area surrounded by a series of wooden frames, covered by huge sheets of tarpaulin.
Beneath, there are over a hundred backpack-style colourful pop-up tents and dozens of hammocks strung from the wooden posts.
As we approach, we see hundreds of people milling around chatting, playing dominoes, or sat outside what I can only describe as a jungle internet cafe.
This is northern Colombia. We are in the middle of nowhere and there is electricity provided by a noisy generator on the side of the hill, makeshift shops, cafes, running water and clean toilets and showers – although they charge a dollar a pop for almost everything, and some here can’t afford that.
Las Tecas is an organised shanty town with a few extras.
I’ve been to more refugee camps, transit camps and migration centres than I can count, but this level of organisation took me by surprise.
The reason is money. The camp is operated by a large smuggling network, and their clients are migrants heading north to the United States.
In front of them lies a thick jungle infested with poisonous snakes, spiders, insects, criminal gangs, terrorist groups, and a 65-mile trek through rivers and mountains.
It is the Darien Gap – the gateway to Panama from Colombia, and the gateway to the United States of America.
For the migrants their last night in this camp is their last night of safety for a while.
If Everest has base camp, the gap has Las Tecas.
We strung our hammocks before night fall and wandered among the migrants, explaining we were joining them for part of their journey.
They’re from all over the world – Nepalese, Africans, Asians, Haitians, but mainly South Americans.
They were friendly and seemed both excited and nervous. What struck all of us was the sheer number of families, and the quite extraordinary number of small children.
I’ve read about the Darien Gap for years, and the only sensible conclusion anyone would reach, is that it’s too dangerous to cross as an adult, let alone as a child.
But the stream of migrants attempting this crossing is equally remarkable.
In the first nine months of this year 150,000 people did it. More than 20,000 of them were children. A decade ago, only barely 200 migrants attempted it.
The smugglers facilitate these daily moves and are making a fortune.
The migrants are desperate, and one can only imagine how awful their lives at home must be to take on this nightmare that takes at least five days in blistering heat and overwhelming humidity.
I’ll be honest, I was somewhat fearful, and I was only attempting a small chunk of the trip.
By 4 o’clock the next morning the camp is awake, breaking down tents and packing whatever they can carry.
Mums and dads get their children ready, dressing them, feeding them breakfast, filling their tiny backpacks, and slipping on their colourful wellington boots.
One baby had been bitten by insects during the night. She was covered in bites and her mother was scratching her back to try to ease the itch.
They haven’t even got to the jungle yet.
At first light they gather to take instructions from a man talking on a loudspeaker.
Then a gate opens, and they flood through.
One of their first obstacles of many is a river, and within minutes of setting off everyone is wet.
Slipping on rocks beneath the water little ones grab their parents, parents grab their children, hoisting them on to their backs and shoulders to try to keep them dry.
But everyone keeps moving.
We criss-cross the rivers following the migrants as they make their way along the valley floor towards higher ground. It takes them at least a day.
Against my usual judgement, we, like many here, are told by our guides to wear wellington boots.
The reason is if you step on a snake, it bites back and if you think about it, that’s at about calf-muscle level.
Out here you wouldn’t last more than 30 minutes from a really nasty snake bite, so we took the boot option.
The problem is we were wading through rivers, so every 10 minutes or so you’re carrying two extra boots of water – and trust me they’re heavy.
I was shown how to lean against a tree and bend my knee towards my back to empty the water. Simple, but annoying, although by now I accept the common wellie could really save one’s life.
Michael Zambrano from Venezuela is carrying his sleeping two-year-old son Lucien in a baby carrier on his chest, and a heavy pack on his back.
His four-year-old son Jordan sticks close by his parents. Mum – Mariangela – is seven months pregnant. They’re expecting a girl and have already named her Ana.
This family has been walking for months.
They left Venezuela seven years ago, lived in Chile for a while, then came to Colombia, where Michael worked as a street performer, making enough money to continue on their journey north.
The family are towards the back of the group.
“We have to save our energy and go slow,” Michael told me.
“I have this backpack plus my baby, so it is harder, but this one is four years old, so he is at least able to walk,” he continued, pointing to Jordan.
Every so often another Venezuelan migrant, Eduardo, who the family has met on the trail helps them, hoisting the little boy on to his shoulders in the deeper water.
Along the route are wooden signs nailed into trees urging them on.
One reads ‘Don’t be afraid’, another, ‘Difficulties vanish when faced with courage’.
But the jungle is full of deadly snakes, spiders and insects. It’s scorching hot and humid.
And very quickly the migrants start to thin out, the youngest and fittest leave the weakest ones behind.
The last of the group is a woman who has already sprained her ankle, it happened in the first hour.
She’s now using a stick for support. Her husband stops her every now and then and takes off her boots to empty the water and check the swelling. And then they carry on.
It’s impossible to imagine she will make it. But she keeps going.
They know they must climb the peak of at least one huge mountain, but the whole journey is arduous.
The rivers can surge if the rain is heavy, and that can simply wash people away to their deaths, especially if they can’t swim, which many cannot.
The first major test our group meets, after the river, is a high hill that is made entirely of mud and rock.
It’s steep and it’s like setting clay. The migrants have to get over this to continue their journey.
Simple wooden steps have been cut into the mud, with ropes to stop people falling into a ravine.
Without these steps their passage would take hours.
My wellies sank up to the top in mud as I hauled myself up. At the top a narrow gap has been dug between mud-covered rock that only one person at a time can pass through.
I edge my way through before descending the muddy staircase, slipping, and sliding, and holding the rope for dear life.
All I’m thinking is, if I’m struggling, how can someone carrying everything they own plus their children even remotely manage this?
And yet they trudge through the feet deep mud.
Some of the men grunt as they make their way up and then down the steep embankment, the women and children look terrified.
We meet Carlos Chinchin rinsing his boots and hands in the river water after getting through the muddy hill.
His toddler Carlito is strapped to his back, a Spiderman sun hat on his head.
Carlos is from Ecuador. His wife and their second child have already made the crossing and are in the United States.
I ask them where they are in the US, he says he doesn’t know.
“They’ve only told me they are in a shelter…” he replied.
It must be harrowing carrying such a small child through the jungle, but Carlos says he is driven by his desire to see his wife Catherine, and his child’s desire to see his little brother Josue.
As he sets off again, he sings to Carlito, calming him down, and comforting this little boy who can’t possibly know what is happening.
A few hours in we bump into Michael again. He looks tired this time – the family has just navigated the mud.
It’s hard he says but he has faith.
“There is nothing stronger than God, he will give us strength to cross all the mud ahead of us.”
It’s a remarkable amount of faith given the US border is now closed to Venezuelans.
The recent change in border policy means many Venezuelans are now stuck in countries along the migration route, unsure where to go.
Michael’s is one of them, but they are determined to carry on. He says he thinks the Americans will understand his situation and have mercy.
But they keep going. This is a huge movement of people which is only expected to increase.
And it’s hard to see how it will stop.
Credits:
Dominique Van Heerden, Gustavo Aleman and Carlos Villalon, producers
Richie Mockler, camera operator
World
‘At least 59 killed’ in Gaza after Israeli military opens fire near aid centre and carries out strikes
At least 59 Palestinians have reportedly been killed after the Israeli military opened fire near an aid centre in Gaza and carried out strikes across the territory.
The Red Cross, which operates a field hospital in Rafah, said 25 people were “declared dead upon arrival” and “six more died after admittance” following gunfire near an aid distribution centre in the southern Gazan city.
The humanitarian organisation added that it also received 132 patients “suffering from weapon-related injuries” after the incident.
The Red Cross said: “The overwhelming majority of these patients sustained gunshot wounds, and all responsive individuals reported they were attempting to access food distribution sites.”
The organisation said the number of deaths marks the hospital’s “largest influx of fatalities” since it began operations in May last year.
The IDF has said it fired “warning shots” near the aid distribution site but it was “not aware of injured individuals” as a result.
It said in a statement: “Earlier today, several suspects were identified approaching IDF troops operating in the Rafah area, posing a threat to the troops, hundreds of metres from the aid distribution site.
“IDF troops operated in order to prevent the suspects from approaching them and fired warning shots.”
Palestinians mourn a loved one following the incident near the aid centre. Pic: Reuters
Mother’s despair over shooting
Somia Alshaar told Sky News her 17-year-old son Nasir was shot dead while visiting the aid centre after she told him not to go.
She said: “He went to get us tahini so we could eat.
“He went to get flour. He told me ‘mama, we don’t have tahini. Today I’ll bring you flour. Even if it kills me, I will get you flour’.
“He left the house and didn’t return. They told me at the hospital: your son…’Oh God, oh Lord’.”
Asked where her son was shot, she replied: “In the chest. Yes, in the chest.”
Somia Alshaar, pictured with her daughter, says her son was shot dead. Pic: Reuters
‘A policy of mass murder’
Hassan Omran, a paramedic with Gaza’s ministry of health, told Sky News after the incident that humanitarian aid centres in Gaza are now “centres of mass death”.
Speaking in Khan Younis, he said: “Today, there were more than 150 injuries and more than 20 martyrs at the aid distribution centres… the Israeli occupation deliberately kills and commits genocide. The Israeli occupation is carrying out a policy of mass murder.
“They call people to come get their daily food, and then, when citizens arrive at these centres, they are killed in cold blood.
“All the victims have gunshot wounds to the head and chest, meaning the enemy is committing these crimes deliberately.”
Israel has rejected genocide accusations and denies targeting civilians.
Two boys mourn their brother at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Pic: Reuters
‘Lies being peddled’
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the controversial US and Israeli-backed group which operates the distribution centre near Rafah, said: “Hamas is claiming there was violence at our aid distribution sites today. False.
“Once again, there were no incidents at or in the immediate vicinity of our sites.
“But that’s not stopping some from spreading the lies being peddled by ‘officials’ at the Hamas-controlled Nasser Hospital.”
The Red Cross said its field hospital in Rafah has recorded more than 250 fatalities and treated more than 3,400 “weapon-wounded patients” since new food distribution sites were set up in Gaza on 27 May.
Read more:
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Palestinians inspect the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah. Pic: AP
It comes after four children and two women were among at least 13 people who died in Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli strikes pounded the area starting late on Friday, officials in Al Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the territory said.
Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not responded to a request for comment on the reported deaths.
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Israeli has been carrying out attacks in Gaza since Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages on 7 October 2023.
Hamas still holds 50 hostages, with fewer than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.
US President Donald Trump has said he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there were no signs of a breakthrough.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The latest fatalities in Gaza comes as a 20-year-old Palestinian-American man was beaten to death by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Friday, the Palestinian Health ministry said.
Sayafollah Musallet, also known as Saif, was killed during a confrontation between Palestinians and settlers in Sinjil, north of Ramallah, the ministry said.
A second man, Hussein Al-Shalabi, 23, died after being shot in the chest.
Mr Musallet’s family, from Tampa Florida, has called on the US State Department to lead an “immediate investigation”.
A State Department spokesperson said it was aware of the incident but it had no further comment “out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones” of the reported victim.
The Israeli military said the confrontation broke out after Palestinians threw rocks at Israelis, lightly injuring them.
As investigators continue to piece together the full picture, early findings of the Air India crash are pointing towards a critical area of concern — the aircraft’s fuel control switches.
The flight, bound for London Gatwick, crashed just moments after taking off from Ahmedabad airport on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board the plane and at least 19 on the ground.
According to the preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the two engine fuel control switches on the plane were moved from the “RUN” to “CUTOFF” position.
These switches control fuel flow to the engines and should only be used when the aircraft is on ground, first to start the engines before a flight and later to shut them down at the gate.
They are designed so they’re unlikely to be changed accidentally, pointing to possible human error on the Air India flight.
The findings include the final conversation between the pilots and show there was confusion in the cockpit as well.
When one pilot asked the other why he cut off the fuel, he responded to say he did not do so.
The Air India plane before the crash. Pic: Takagi
Moments later, a Mayday call was made from the cockpit, but the plane could not regain power quickly enough and plummeted to the ground.
Captain Amit Singh, founder of Safety Matters Foundation, an organisation dedicated to aviation safety, told Sky News: “This exchange indicates that the engine shutdowns were uncommanded.
“However, the report does not identify the cause – whether it was crew error, mechanical malfunction, or electronic failure.”
Previous warning of ‘possible fuel switch issue’
“The Boeing 787 uses spring-loaded locking mechanisms on its fuel control switches to prevent accidental movement,” Mr Singh explained.
But a previous bulletin from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) “warned that these switches might be installed with the locking feature disengaged,” he said.
This could “make them susceptible to unintended movement due to vibration, contact, or quadrant flex”, he added.
The plane’s tail lodged in a building. Pic: Reuters
Speaking to Sky News, aviation expert Terry Tozner said: “The take-off was normal, the aircraft rotated at the correct speed left the ground and almost immediately, the cut-off switches were selected to off, one then two.
“But nobody has said with any clarity whether or not the latch mechanisms worked okay on this particular aircraft. So we can only assume that they were in normal working order.”
In India, there has been a backlash over the findings, with some saying the report points to pilot error without much information and almost dismisses the possibility of a mechanical or electric failure.
Indian government responds
India’s civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu has been quick to respond, saying: “We care for the welfare and the wellbeing of pilots so let’s not jump to any conclusions at this stage, let us wait for the final report.
“I believe we have the most wonderful workforce of pilots and crew in the whole world.”
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India plane crash survivor carries brother’s coffin
Both pilots were experienced, with around 19,000 flying hours between them, including more than 9,000 on Boeing 787s.
The report says the aircraft maintenance checks were on schedule and that there are no signs of fuel contamination or a bird strike.
So far, no safety recommendations have been issued to Boeing or General Electric, the engine manufacturers.
Concern over destroyed flight recorder
Mr Singh said “the survivability of the flight recorders also raises concern”.
The plane’s rear flight recorder, designed to withstand impact forces of 3,400 Gs and temperatures of 1,100C for 60 minutes, “was damaged beyond recovery”.
Read more:
Everything you need to know about the crash
Air India’s lone survivor is nothing short of miracle
“The Ram Air Turbine (RAT), which deploys automatically when both engines fail and power drops below a threshold, was observed as deployed in CCTV footage when the aircraft was approximately 60ft above ground level,” Mr Singh said.
“This suggests that the dual engine failure likely occurred before the official timestamp of 08:08:42 UTC, implying a possible discrepancy.”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting the crash site. Pic: X/AP
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Mr Singh said it was also “of particular note” that the plane’s emergency locator transmitter (ELT) did not send any signal after the crash.
“Was the ELT damaged, unarmed, mis-wired, or malfunctioning?” he said.
The report has generated more questions than answers on topics including human error, power source failures and mechanical or electrical malfunction.
The final report is expected to take a year. Meanwhile, families grapple with the unimaginable loss of loved ones in one of the worst disasters in India’s aviation history.
Donald Trump has announced he will impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from 1 August.
The tariffs could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US.
Mr Trump has also imposed a 30% tariff on goods from Mexico, according to a post from his Truth Social account.
Announcing the moves in separate letters on the account, the president said the US trade deficit was a national security threat.
In his letter to the EU, he wrote: “We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, trade Deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-Tariff, policies, and trade barriers.
“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal.”
In his letter to Mexico, Mr Trump said he did not think the country had done enough to stop the US from turning into a “narco-trafficking playground”.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today that the EU could adopt “proportionate countermeasures” if the US proceeds with imposing the 30% tariff.
Ms von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.
“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she continued.
“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”
Ms von der Leyen has also said imposing tariffs on EU exports would “disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains”.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on the X social media platform that Mr Trump’s announcement was “very concerning and not the way forward”.
He added: “The European Commission can count on our full support. As the EU we must remain united and resolute in pursuing an outcome with the United States that is mutually beneficial.”
Mexico’s economy ministry said a bilateral working group aims to reach an alternative to the 30% US tariffs before they are due to take effect.
The country was informed by the US that it would receive a letter about the tariffs, the ministry’s statement said, adding that Mexico was negotiating.
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How ‘liberation day’ unfolded
Trump’s tariff threats and delays
On his so-called “liberation day” in April, Mr Trump unleashed “reciprocal tariffs” on many of America’s trade partners.
The US president said he was targeting countries with which America has a trade imbalance.
However, since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
The US imposed a 20% tariff on imported goods from the EU in April but it was later paused and the bloc has since been paying a baseline tariff of 10% on goods it exports to the US.
In May, while the US and EU where holding trade negotiations, Mr Trump threated to impose a 50% tariff on the bloc as talks didn’t progress as he would have liked.
However, he later announced he was delaying the imposition of that tariff while negotiations over a trade deal took place.
As of earlier this week, the EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders were still hoping to strike a trade deal with the Trump administration.
Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.
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