BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

8 dead after 2 suspected smuggling boats overturn near San Diego

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ovp test

mLife Diagnostics LLC: Oral Fluid Drug Testing

Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment

Class to create biodiverse backyard

Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting

maylen

https://digital-stage.newsnationnow.com/

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241114185800

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241115200405

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118165728

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118184948

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) – Eight people are dead after two suspected migrant smuggling boats overturned off the coast of San Diego overnight, authorities said.

Lifeguards responded to an area near Black’s Beach after a Spanish-speaking woman on one of the panga-style boats called 911 around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Mónica Muñoz.

The woman reported two vessels, one carrying eight people and another carrying approximately 15, had overturned, San Diego Lifeguard Chief James Garland said during a Sunday morning news conference.

When lifeguards and Customs and Border Protection officers arrived, they found a total of eight bodies and both capsized boats, SDFD said. Lifeguards also found several lifejackets and fuel barrels but thick fog hampered the search for additional victims. Others may also have left the beach before authorities arrived, Garland said.

Authorities were still searching the area Sunday morning and planned to continue into the afternoon.

It was not immediately clear what caused the capsizing or what the nationalities of the passengers were, Garland said.

“This is one of the worst maritime smuggling tragedies that I can think of in California, certainly here in the city of San Diego,” Garland said.

“This is not necessarily people trying to find a better life,” Capt. James Spitler, sector commander for Coast Guard San Diego, said during the news conference. “This is part of a transnational criminal organization effort to smuggle people into the United States. These people are often labor-trafficked and sex-trafficked when they arrive. Again, it was a tragedy — we offer our condolences.”

In May 2021, a packed boat used in a human smuggling operation capsized and broke apart in powerful surf along the rocky San Diego coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen others.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

U.S.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241119133138

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Clear

la

48°F Clear Feels like 48°
Wind
1 mph NNW
Humidity
52%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
46°F A few passing clouds. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph N
Precip
8%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous