One person is dead and several others were rescued following a suspected Thursday smuggling attempt off the coast of San Diego.
Lifeguards saved 10 people from the ocean, San Diego Fire-Rescue said in a tweet. Eight of the individuals were taken to the hospital. One person was brought onto land by lifeguards at Wipeout Beach, where lifesaving efforts proved unsuccessful, San Diego’s Fox 5 reported.
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A Border Patrol agent spotted a boat heading north off the coast of Point Loma around 5 a.m. and worked to interdict it, a spokesperson from the agency said. When multiple people were spotted in the water, lifeguards rushed to respond.
@SDLifeguards rescued 10 off the coast of Marine St. early Thurs. a.m.
Eight transported to local hospitals. SDFD crews, lifeguards and AMR worked together on this multi-casualty incident. One fatality at Wipeout Beach. USBP and USCG also on this incident. pic.twitter.com/H0wRU21uRD— SDFD (@SDFD) May 20, 2021
“The conditions out there today were rough, we had 4- to 6-foot surf and we had some heavy currents,” San Diego Fire-Rescue Marine Safety Captain Maureen Hodges said.
Fifteen people were taken into custody by Border Patrol, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which described the incident as a “smuggling event/boat” in an email to CNN.
The incident took place less than 50 miles away from the Mexican border.
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Twenty-three people were taken into custody after the operator of a panga refused to stop off the Point Loma coast on Monday, the California news outlet reported, according to a Border Patrol spokesperson. Three people were killed and more than two dozen rescued after a suspected smuggling boat capsized in the same area on May 2.
