Border container toppled in first weekend of use near Yuma

YUMA, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) - A set of shipping containers part of the state’s operation to secure gaps in border wall lasted just days on the Arizona-Mexico border before they were found toppled over Monday morning.

Claudia Ramos, a journalist with Univision, was on the border early Monday morning and captured an image of the containers disconnected from the wall that was being constructed. In the tweet posted in Spanish, Ramos said the two containers were found on their side just a day after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced the first gap was complete.

Many online speculated that the shipping containers stacked on top of one another were toppled over by weather. C.J. Karamargin with Gov. Ducey’s office said they believed people knocked over the containers. Karamargin said the containers that were found on their side weighed 8,800 pounds, and it was “highly unlikely” the containers were blown over in weather.

“We clearly struck a nerve,” Karamargin said. “Someone doesn’t like what we’re doing. Someone obviously doesn’t like the obstacles we are putting in their way.”

However, Ramos said contractors told her on Monday that it was severe weather that toppled the containers.

The project, announced by Ducey on Friday, places shipping containers two high and tops the containers with concertina wire in gaps along the border fencing and wall. The containers are supposed to be ‘secured’ to one another by linking them together and welding them shut. However, Karamargin said the containers found on their side were in place but had not yet been secured to the rest of the barrier.

Karamargin said the U.S. Border Patrol notified the state on Sunday night that the containers were not in place. He said the Border Patrol notified the state not to respond to the area immediately due to ‘heavy activity in the area.’ Crews responded early Monday morning and uprighted the containers.

Gov. Ducey’s office said the first gap has been filled along the border, and they expect a second gap to be filled with containers ‘within days.’ The Governor’s office also said when work stops on the border container project for the day, they will have containers secured.

The governor’s office also replied to Arizona’s Family via Twitter, saying the incident happened prior to placing and securing the containers to the ground.

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