According to emergency personnel, two fishing boats capsized off the coast of San Diego, California, killing at least eight fishermen.
Authorities reported that teams were looking for an additional seven people on Sunday.
According to United States Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm, a lady on one of the panga-style boats contacted 911 late on Saturday to report that the other boat had capsized in the seas off Black’s Beach.
Brahm explained that the number of people on the boat that capsized was only an estimate given by the woman who called.
Eight bodies were retrieved from the water by Coast Guard and San Diego Fire-Rescue workers, but it was difficult to find any more fatalities due to the dense fog. Early on Sunday, a Coast Guard cutter searched the region, and officials hoped to send helicopters aloft if the weather cleared, according to Brahm.
The boats looked to be a part of a people-smuggling operation, according to the authorities.
James Gartland, the lifeguard chief for the city of San Diego, said at a press conference that “we lost eight victims” and that it was “one of the greatest marine smuggling catastrophes that I can recall of in California, especially here in the city of San Diego”.
Eight deaths were confirmed by Coast Guard Petty Officer Eddie Berrios, and at least seven more were being sought. He had no idea what kind of boats they were but claimed that pangas, which are little open boats with outboard motors used for smuggling, frequently came ashore there.
The nationalities of the passengers were unknown, and it was unclear if any arrests were made.
This was one of a few hundred migrant smuggling incidents reported in Eric Lavergne’s authority by the US Border Patrol in San Diego this fiscal year, which is consistent with comparable figures in recent years.
He mentioned instances in which people crossed into the US while swimming, surfing, or using panga fishing boats.
Under President Joe Biden, there have been an increase in unauthorized crossings as a result of many asylum seekers turning themselves in to Border Patrol officials and being allowed to remain in the country to prosecute their cases in immigration court.
Mexicans, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and El Salvadorans have been disproportionately affected by the enforcement of a coronavirus pandemic rule that is set to expire on May 11 because these are the only nationalities that Mexico has agreed to take back.
Because of the likelihood that they will be deported in accordance with the public health rule, known as Title 42, citizens of those four nations have been more prone to try to avoid being apprehended. Recently, Mexico started returning Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Cubans in accordance with Title 42.
