Wednesday, June 27, 2007 - A Mexican national trying to enter the U.S. is dead tonight and Border Patrol officials say they could have saved his life if a smuggler hadn't interfered.

What could have been a water rescue ended in a recovery when the body of an unidentified man was pulled out of the American canal. It all began a few miles down, when a Border Patrol agent tried to rescue the migrant himself.

However, officials say a smuggler who was with the migrant began throwing rocks at the agent.

"The smuggler struck the agent with a large rock. The agent did suffer a large 3 inch contusion on the back of his head, and there is some swelling,"  said Senior Border Patrol Agent Patrick Berry. Berry says the agent, fearing for his life, fired at the smuggler as he made his way back into Mexico. It is unknown if the smuggler was hit.

The strong currents then carried the migrant down the river - to his death.

"It's not uncommon for us to be able to pull these migrants out, and that's exactly what this agent was responding to do- was to save the life of this individual, which is something our agents do all the time. Unfortunately, because of the actions of the smuggler, our agent wasn't able to get in there and rescue this individual," said Berry. 

The name of the injured agent or his condition has not been released.