Horrifying moment migrant stuck on border wall pleads for help before plunging to her death in front of border patrol agents

Newly-released body camera footage captured the horrifying moment a migrant who was stuck on the border wall pleaded for help before plunging to her death.

Petronila Elizabeth Poma Perez, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national, could not be seen in the footage released by US Customs and Border Protection, but she could be heard repeatedly calling out for help.

A Border Patrol agent tried to reassure her that help is on the way, but after more than 20 minutes Poma Perez slips and falls to her death from the top of the 30-foot wall in the California border city of Otay Mesa on March 21.

She is said to have arrived with a group of other migrants that night, and brazenly scaled the wall in front of agents who warned her to stay put.

Border Patrol now says the San Diego Fire Department did not arrive on the correct side of the border wall in time to help Poma Perez and provide her with a ladder down. 

Petronila Elizabeth Poma Perez, a 24-year-old Guatemalan national, tragically fell to her death from the top of the border wall in March

The body camera footage shows an unidentified agent arriving on the scene between the primary and secondary fences separating the US and Mexico in California at around 10.30pm.

He could be heard advising the woman not to go over the fence or scale down the north side, telling her in Spanish: 'Do not go down, do not go down.'

But Poma Perez apparently does not listen and begins to scale the fence anyway, prompting the officer to advise her 'Don't do that, don't do that.

'Stay there, do not go down, please, please,' he could be heard telling the woman as he calls for help.

He then promises the woman that the San Diego Fire Department is on its way to assist, telling her to hold tight until the firefighters arrive on the scene.

At one point, another migrant approaches the fence and asks the agent if he could use a nearby ladder to rescue the woman -  to which the officer replies that they need to wait for the fire department before they could take any action.

Body camera footage shows a Border Patrol officer telling her not to scale the wall

The officer then tells her to hold on, telling her that fire crews are on their way

The fire department arrived on the scene about 14 minutes later - but is on the wrong side of the wall to help the woman.

Making matters worse, the fire truck could not make the sharp turn through the nearest gate and had to take a longer route around.

As they were doing so, Poma Perez could be heard crying that she was struggling to hold on.

By 10.54pm, Poma Perez yelled that she was going to fall - and just moments later a loud thud could be heard as her body struck the elevated concrete base.

A border patrol agent on the scene then finds her sprawled, unresponsive on the ground with massive head trauma and profuse bleeding.

'I think she's done, bro,' the agent could be heard telling another officer before calling EMS crews.

As she waited for the fire crews to arrive on the correct side of the border wall, she yelled that she was about to fall

The Border Patrol officer called for EMS help after finding her sprawled, unresponsive on the ground with massive head trauma and profuse bleeding 

Meanwhile, firefighters finally arrived on the correct side of the wall about 10 minutes after Poma Perez fell.

An agent could then be heard in the body camera footage saying, 'They didn't make it in time, she couldn't hold on.'

Poma Perez was pronounced dead at the scene.

The San Diego Fire Department now says Customs and Border Protection officers directed the engine to the wrong side of the wall and had to perform 'lengthy maneuvers' to get to the correct location.

'While the environment at the border is very challenging, there are thousands of examples over the years where our crews, in concert with CBP agents, have saved lives,' the fire department told NBC San Diego. 

'Our personnel feel horrible when a fatality occurs because our intent is always to rescue and render aid, and get those folks who need further medical care to the hospital.'

The San Diego Fire Department said Customs and Border Protection agents called them to the wrong side of the wall

But Poma Perez's death has prompted concerns about the protocols the Border Patrol follows when a migrant's life is in danger - with some human rights groups calling it part of a larger policy failure in Washington.

'If Ms. Poma Perez had the ability to walk up to seek safety at a port of entry as required by US law, instead of being forced to wait in danger in Mexico, she may have not tried to climb that wall,' Amy Fischer, the director of refugee and migrants rights at Amnesty International USA told Newsweek.

'People will risk their lives in order to save their lives, and this heartbreaking tragedy is one of far too many deaths that occur at the border because of cruel US policies at the border.'

Pedro Rios, who advocates for migrants as the director of American Friends Service Committee, also told NBC San Diego that the 'tragic situation... could have been avoided.

'When we were advocating that 30-foot border walls would only bring more suffering and more death, this is exactly what we meant,' he claimed.

Rios added that 'we should not be normalizing someone falling to their death and us not questioning why that is wrong.'

Customs and Border Protection said its Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident.