JALANDHAR: Two Punjabi men - one from Begowal town of Kapurthala district and the other from Naura village of Nawanshahr district in Punjab - have died on their way to illegally reach the United States.Begowal resident Sukhwinder Singh said his 18-year-old son Devinderpal Singh left home on June 13 to go to the US. "We had paid Rs 24 lakh to a travel agent in a neighbouring village, who had assured us that he would reach the US safely. My son reached Mexico by air via Greece, Italy and Spain on July 1," he told TOI on Tuesday evening. On July 6, he received the last call from Devinderpal who said that his group, comprising of eight men and one woman, was leaving for the US.Sukhwinder's brother, who lives in Indiana, received a phone call from the woman, who was part of the group, from an American hospital. "She told my brother that she along with Devinderpal and Gaurav from Nawanshahr was taken in a bus from Mexico. They travelled for two days, but were not given anything to eat," he said.Sukhwinder’s brother said, “They were made to walk and they had just two bottles of water with them. While walking, they lost their way as they were hungry and could not find water. Two men fainted and later died. She also fainted and found herself in a hospital in the US.” Sukhwinder said, “They had apparently crossed the US border, then lost their way and died due to thirst and hunger.”Bholath DSP Devinder Sandhu said he visited the Begowal family revealed that Devinderpal’s parents were not yet ready to lodge an FIR.Twenty-year-old Gaurav lived at Naura village in Nawansahhr with his uncle Gurmeet Sogi’s family. When TOI called up his uncle on Tuesday evening, he said he had no information about Gaurav’s fate. “He left home in the middle of June and the last time he called up was in the first week of July. He was in Mexico at the time and stopped calling after,” he said. Asked if he was aware of what had happened to Gaurav, Sogi replied, “His parents were in the US and he was in touch with them.”

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