Mexican man who died during border crossing to be cremated

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A Mexican man who drowned while trying to swim into the United States is expected to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the ocean where he died.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says 45-year-old Ernesto Pimentel-Garcia of Mexico City died shortly after Christmas when he tried to swim from Tijuana around a border fence that juts into the Pacific Ocean near Imperial Beach, California.

He was seen going underwater and was pronounced dead after his body was recovered.

The San Diego County medical examiner determined that he drowned.

Authorities say they haven’t been able to find and notify the man’s next of kin. County authorities say in such cases, the bodies are cremated and the ashes scattered at sea.