A search was underway early Monday after a suspected smuggling boat capsized off Del Mar, killing three people.
Early reports indicated nine people were missing from the boat, while four survivors were located.
“Potentially nine more individuals are unaccounted for,” said Coast Guard spokesperson Adam Stanton. “That nine number doesn’t mean they are in the water. They could have made it to shore.”
The overturned boat was discovered just north of Torrey Pines State Beach around 6:30 a.m.
A survivor who was interviewed told first responders that nine people were missing, including one or two children, Coast Guard spokesperson Hunter Schnabel said.
Personnel from several agencies were involved in the search, including Coast Guard and San Diego Fire-Rescue helicopters, a 45-foot Coast Guard response boat, and lifeguards in rescue boats and personal watercraft. Some people were combing the beach on foot.
“There are quite a few agencies involved currently,” Schnabel said.
Encinitas Deputy Fire Chief Jorge Sanchez told OnScene.TV that rescuers found multiple people on the beach when they first arrived. He said four people were taken to hospitals, and it was unknown if any other victims were in the water.
Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla said three females and one male were transported to the hospital’s emergency department and were being treated for respiratory failure. Two patients were in their 30s, one was a teenager and the fourth patient’s age was not immediately known, a hospital spokesperson said.
Sheriff’s Lt. Nick Backouris said the sheriff’s department will be handling the death investigations.
He said initial reports were that the vessel was a 12-foot panga, but he said he thought the boat might have been a little larger, maybe 20 feet long, based on photos he saw from the scene. “It is an old, beat-up boat,” he said.
Video shot by OnScene.TV showed the boat upright in the water, bobbing in the waves near the shore.
Hundreds of migrants have been apprehended at sea in recent months as the Trump administration tightens land borders across the Southwest. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration includes ocean routes, where Coast Guard and border officers have beefed up patrols.
There were 264 maritime smuggling events resulting in 826 apprehensions between last October and mid-March, according to data from the U.S. Border Patrol. Maritime events are defined as incidents where migrants are caught in the sea or on shore, officials said.
That is on pace to match the previous fiscal year’s numbers, when there were 589 incidents leading to 1,375 apprehensions. The year before that, 736 maritime smuggling cases led to 1,328 apprehensions.
Officials say smugglers often overload their vessels with passengers, often without providing any safety measures. Border Patrol officials said the most common vessels used by smugglers include pangas, pleasure boats and even personal watercraft.
Some border-crossing attempts end in tragedy. In January, a 57-year-old woman from Mexico drowned when the suspected smuggling boat she was riding in capsized in heavy surf off Ocean Beach. More than 20 people were swept into the water in that incident. Last year, one person died in a maritime smuggling incident while 13 people died during attempts in 2023, according to the Border Patrol.
