Immigration

Search Ends For Migrants In Capsized Smuggling Vessels After Eight Killed Off San Diego Coast

120730-G-GR411-004 Coast Guard Helicopter Conducts Search and Rescue DemonstrationPetty Officer 3rd Class Joshua Baker, an aviation survival technician, prepares to deploy from a Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter during a search and rescue demonstration in the Grand River, Tuesday.The demonstration was conducted for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Department of Defense organization established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee's military commitment. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Lt. Davey Connor

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search for migrants Sunday after eight were killed in two capsized smuggling vessels near San Diego, California.

Authorities were informed of the incident when a Spanish-speaking individual made a 911 call around midnight Sunday, Chief James Gartland, lifeguard chief for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said at a news conference hours after the incident occurred. One of the vessels reached the shore with approximately eight individuals and a second vessel with 15 others overturned, Capt. James Spitler, sector commander for the U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego, said at the press conference.

“This is one of the worst maritime tragedies that I can think of in California, certainly here in the city of San Diego,”  Gartland said, confirming that eight individuals died in the incident.

The southern California coastal region has experienced a 771% increase in human trafficking since 2017 and 23 lives lost at sea in 2021, according to Spitler.

“This is not necessarily people trying to find a better life, this is part of a transnational criminal organization effort to smuggle people into the United States,” Spitler said.

The Coast Guard also found two suspected human smuggling vessels carrying a total of 19 individuals, including a child, and traces of narcotics in recent weeks off the San Diego coast.