4 dead after wooden boat believed to be ferrying migrants into the US capsizes off San Diego

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A wooden skiff believed to have been ferrying migrants toward the U.S. capsized in stormy seas near San Diego, leaving at least four people dead and four hospitalized, the Coast Guard said Saturday.

The U.S. Border Patrol found the vessel in the surf off Imperial Beach late Friday night. Six people were found on the beach just before midnight, one of whom was pronounced dead and another who was rescued after being found under the boat.

About two hours later, authorities received a report of someone in the water near Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew responded and found three people in the ocean, all dead.

The Coast Guard said Saturday that it was continuing to search for others who may have been on board.

Several of the survivors claimed Mexican nationality, while others remained unidentified, the agency said. One person was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.

“Our crews and partner agencies responded immediately, but this case demonstrates the severe risks posed to aliens attempting to enter the United States by sea in unstable vessels,” said Coast Guard Capt. Robert Tucker, Sector San Diego commander.

A strong storm system hit Southern California over the weekend, prompting warnings of flash flooding and mudslides. The vessel was a panga — single- or twin-engine open fishing boat that is also commonly used by smugglers.

Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders, including off California’s coast. Pangas leave Mexico in the dead of night and sometimes chart hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.

There have been several incidents in recent years of migrant vessels capsizing en route to California.

In May, at least three people died when a panga flipped off the coast about 35 miles (56 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one of them capsized in the surf. It was one of the deadliest maritime smuggling incidents in waters off the U.S. coast.

A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off the coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.

Worldwide, nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, according to the U.N. agency for migration. The death toll set a record for the fifth year in a row.

The U.N. Missing Migrant Project puts the number of dead and missing in the central Mediterranean at over 24,506 between 2014 and 2024, many of them lost at sea. The project says the number may be greater as many deaths go unrecorded.