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A ranch hand found the body of a woman who officials suspect had died while crossing the border illegally on Monday night in the Altar Valley southwest of Tucson.

The body was found at about 6 p.m. Monday 16 miles north of the border near Arizona 286, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. The ranch hand reported it to the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

The department called the Border Patrol, which sent agents on all-terrain vehicles to the area, he said. Officials from the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office also went to the scene and conducted an initial exam that indicated the woman had died about a week ago from exposure, Daniels said. They didn't find any identification.

From Jan. 1 through April, Southern Arizona medical examiners have handled the bodies of 44 illegal border-crossers, compared with 57 at the same time the previous year, information from the Arizona Daily Star's border-death database shows.

Also over the holiday weekend, Border Patrol agents rescued two men, witnessed a single-vehicle accident, made one large marijuana seizure and jumped into a car to keep it from heading into highway traffic. In addition, one agent was assaulted near the San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

At about noon Sunday on Arizona 191 near Elfrida, north of Douglas in Cochise County, two Border Patrol agents saw a Ford Bronco with 15 illegal immigrants inside crash, Daniels said.

One man, 42, of Mexico, was flown to a hospital with injuries to his back and knees. The other 14, all from Mexico, were treated at the scene for minor injuries and set up for formal removal proceedings.

Officials think the driver was among the arrested but nobody identified him, so no charges were pursued against any of them, Daniels said. The Cochise County Sheriff's Department took custody of the Ford Bronco, he said.

The rescue occurred about 1:30 a.m. Friday when a resident called to report two men in distress on the side of Federal Route 15 north of Sells on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.

Agents arrived and treated one of the men, 29, of Sinaloa, Mexico, at the scene. The other man, 35, also from Sinaloa, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Casa Grande, Daniels said. He was later released. Both were allowed a voluntary return to Mexico after being processed for illegal entry.

The men said they had crossed into the United States illegally near Sasabe on May 17 with a group of 20 people, Daniels said. They were walking for three days before they were left behind by the group.

The large marijuana seizure took place about 8 p.m. Saturday after a resident in the village of Hickiwan, on the west ern side of the Tohono O'odham Reservation northeast of Why, called to report a car that appeared to be smuggling marijuana, Daniels said.

Agents went to the area and found an abandoned gray-and- black Chevy Yukon full of bundles of marijuana that weighed 1,300 pounds. The drugs were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Two bail out

A Border Patrol agent spotted a suspicious Buick sedan driving north on I-19 near Green Valley Saturday at about 8:30 p.m., Daniels said. The agent tried to stop the car south of Tucson. As the driver pulled the car over, he and one passenger jumped out and ran away, leaving the car in gear.

The car rolled forward, with five people still inside, heading toward the lanes of traffic. The agent jumped in the car and steered it back out of traffic and stopped it, Daniels said. The agent jammed his thumb while trying to control the steering wheel, but nobody else was hurt, he said.

He arrested the five illegal immigrants in the Buick.

Leaving the car in gear as they bail out is a common tactic used by smugglers to ensure they get away, Daniels said. They know agents will have to make sure the car doesn't crash, giving them more time to flee.

On Saturday at 3:45 p.m., agents working near the San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O'odham Reservation spotted a man and woman trying to sneak into the county illegally, Daniels said. When the agents took them into custody and asked them for identification, the man became hostile and punched one agent, opening a gash in his head.

They subdued the man and took them both into a Border Patrol station. The woman said she was a Tohono O'odham tribal member from Mexico and was allowed to return to Mexico, Daniels said.

The man gave a false name and said he was a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, but fingerprints revealed that he was a Mexican man with a criminal history, Daniels said. He was arrested on suspicion of re-entry of an aggravated felon and assault of a federal agent.

The agent was treated at a hospital and released.