At least 8 people dead after boat capsizes off San Diego

At least eight people were dead and a search for more victims was underway Sunday off a San Diego beach after a suspected human smuggling operation ended in disaster, authorities 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,” said James Gartland, chief of the lifeguard division in San Diego.

Gartland said a woman called 911 at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, saying she was on a panga boat with 15 people aboard that made it to the shore at Blacks Beach. The caller said another panga – a relatively small fishing boat with an outboard motor often used for smuggling operations – had capsized, and eight people were in the water.

San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesperson Mónica Muñoz said the lifeguard teams, unable to immediately access the beach because of high tide, waded through water up to waist deep before reaching two overturned pangas. Debris and bodies were scattered over 400 yards of beach and surf, Muñoz said.

The first lifeguards on the scene found seven bodies, pulling victims from knee-deep water. An eighth body was found a short time later by Customs and Border Protection officers, Muñoz said.

Gartland said when his team reached the beach, the caller and other survivors were gone. All the victims were adults, he said.

A Coast Guard cutter was searching for victims, and officials hoped to use helicopters when weather improved, Coast Guard Capt. James Spitler said.

Eric Lavergne, a Border Patrol spokesman, said hundreds of maritime smuggling incidents occur every year. Saturday’s was one of the deadliest ever involving the U.S., he said.