San Diego Officials Searching For Survivors After Boating Accident Kills 8

A search is underway after a suspected human-smuggling operation ended in tragedy, San Diego officials reported.

At least eight people are dead, and a search is ongoing for those missing, USA Today reported.

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

Authorities say two migrant smuggling boats approached San Diego shore amid heavy fog, and one capsized in Black Beach’s surf, making it one of the deadliest human smuggling operations ever in the U.S.

Gartland said a woman called 911 around 11:30 p.m. Saturday to report a panga – a relatively small fishing boat often used for smuggling operations – had capsized and eight people were in the water.

The Spanish-speaking woman said the boat that overturned had 15 people on it.

Coast Guard and San Diego Fire-Rescue crews retrieved the bodies of eight adults from the water, but fog hampered their search for additional victims. Recovery efforts began again on Sunday, but no additional bodies were found.

Authorities say survivors may have escaped on land, including the woman who called 911. Authorities do not know her whereabouts.

San Diego Lifeguard Chief James Gartland said rescuers found the two boats overturned in shallow waters when they arrived.

“That area is very hazardous, even in the daytime,” Gartland said at a news conference. “It has a series of sandbars and in-shore rip currents, so you can think that you can land in some sand or get to waist-high, knee-high water and think that you’re able to be safe to exit the water, but there are long, in-shore holes. If you step into those holes, those rip currents will pull you along the shore and back out to sea.”

Black’s Beach is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of San Diego. Hundreds of maritime smuggling operations take place throughout the year off California’s coast and sometimes turn fatal.

In May 2021, a boat carrying migrants capsized and broke apart in powerful surf along the rocky San Diego coast. The ree people died, and injuring two dozen were injured.