Number Of Children Fleeing Latin America Soars: UN

Migrant children, like these playing at a reception station in Panama in March, are crossing the perilous Darien Gap in soaring numbers, the UN says (Credit: AFP)

More than 30,000 children have crossed the perilous Darien Gap jungle in four months on the path to a better life in the United States, a number up 40 percent from the same period last year, the UN children's agency said Wednesday.

UNICEF warned of "a fifth consecutive year of record levels of child migration" through the lawless jungle between Panama and Colombia, where migrants face risky river crossings, wild animals and violent criminal gangs that extort, kidnap and abuse them.