The number of Mexicans who die each year trying to cross the border with the United States has fallen sharply.

The Mexican Government says fewer and fewer would-be illegal immigrants are attempting the journey due to better awareness of the hazards which face them.

Water supplies are vital for the desert crossing

Most of the dead are found in isolated areas of the mountains or desert, or are fished out of rivers and canals.

The border has long seen hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and other Latin Americans undertaking the crossing in search of better lives.

In the first six months of 2002, 117 Mexicans died in the attempt but the number was 210 in the same period in 2001 and 283 in the first half of 2000.

"The reduction is due to actions to alert migrants of the danger of crossing in high-risk areas," said the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

Mexico has been running radio and TV reports about migrants who have died at the border.

11 September effect

Of the 117 dead, 55 died of dehydration in the Arizona desert and in the area between the Mexican border city of Mexicali and Calexico, across the border in California.

Summer is just barely here and it looks like it's just going to get worse

Kat Rodriguez US human rights activist

The US Border Patrol reports for its part that there has been a 25% drop in the number of illegal migrants intercepted this year.

But the dangers of the hostile climate appear to be only part of the reason why illegal immigration is down.

The US has stepped up border patrols since the 11 September terror attacks and the US economic downturn has cut into jobs available "north of the border".

However, human rights campaigners warn that the fall in numbers may be misleading as many migrants may have merely delayed plans to make the crossing because of 11 September.

"Summer is just barely here and it looks like it's just going to get worse," said Kat Rodriguez of the Human Rights Coalition in Tucson, Arizona.