Eight dead after boats capsize near San Diego

At least eight people have died after two fishing boats capsized off the coast of San Diego, California, in an apparent migrant smuggling operation.

“This is one of the worst smuggling tragedies that I can think of in California, certainly here in the city of San Diego,” San Diego Fire-Rescue Lifeguard Division Chief James Gartland said.

San Diego emergency crews began a search and recovery operation late Saturday night, after receiving a 911 call from a Spanish speaker about fishing boats in distress off the coast of San Diego’s Black’s Beach.

Garland said crews arrived to find two fishing boats capsized in a 400-foot (366 m) area, and eight bodies were recovered from the water and the beach.

Officials did not know the nationalities of the victims but told reporters that they were all adults.

Hazardous weather conditions likely contributed to the danger of the maritime smuggling operation, and also hindered rescue efforts overnight, officials said.

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The U.S. Coast Guard and the San Diego Fire-Rescue Lifeguard division were still involved in the recovery operation late Sunday morning.

Eric Lavergne, the special operations supervisor with the U.S. Border Patrol in San Diego, said this was one of a few hundred migrant smuggling events recorded in his jurisdiction this fiscal year, which is on track with the rate in recent years.

These have included incidents of migrants swimming, travelling by surfboard or taking panga fishing boats to cross into the U.S., he said.

Zainab Sa’id