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In a tragic turn of events off the coast of San Diego, a wooden skiff carrying migrants capsized in tumultuous waters, resulting in at least four fatalities and four individuals being hospitalized, as confirmed by the Coast Guard on Saturday.
The U.S. Border Patrol came across the overturned vessel late Friday night near Imperial Beach. Six people were discovered on the shore close to midnight. Among them, one was sadly pronounced dead, and another was found trapped beneath the capsized boat but was successfully rescued.
Approximately two hours after this initial discovery, authorities received reports of another person spotted in the water near the Imperial Beach Pier. A swift response by a Coast Guard crew led to the grim finding of three more individuals in the ocean, all of whom had succumbed to the sea.
The Coast Guard announced that their search efforts were ongoing as they continued to look for additional passengers who might have been onboard the ill-fated vessel.
While several survivors identified themselves as Mexican nationals, some remain unidentified at this time. One individual from the group has been handed over to the Department of Homeland Security for further processing.
“Our crews and partner agencies responded immediately, but this case demonstrates the severe risks posed to aliens attempting to enter the United States by sea in unstable vessels,” said Coast Guard Capt. Robert Tucker, Sector San Diego commander.
A strong storm system hit Southern California over the weekend, prompting warnings of flash flooding and mudslides. The vessel was a panga – single- or twin-engine open fishing boat that is also commonly used by smugglers.
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Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders, including off California’s coast. Pangas leave Mexico in the dead of night and sometimes chart hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.
There have been several incidents in recent years of migrant vessels capsizing en route to California.
In May, at least three people died when a panga flipped off the coast about 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one of them capsized in the surf. It was one of the deadliest maritime smuggling incidents in waters off the U.S. coast.
A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off the coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.
Worldwide, nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, according to the U.N. agency for migration. The death toll set a record for the fifth year in a row.
The U.N. Missing Migrant Project puts the number of dead and missing in the central Mediterranean at over 24,506 between 2014 and 2024, many of them lost at sea. The project says the number may be greater as many deaths go unrecorded.
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