Three people are dead and nine were missing Monday after a panga-style boat washed ashore near San Diego in California, reports say.
The U.S. Coast Guard has announced that it is “currently searching for 9 missing individuals off the coast of Del Mar” after getting a “report of an overturned vessel.”
First responders who arrived at the scene found three people dead and four survivors, according to Fox11 Los Angeles.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office stated that its deputies are assisting the Coast Guard with “providing life-saving measures related to a maritime event on the beach near the 200 block of Stratford Court.”
Three people are reported dead after the boat washed ashore in Southern California on May 5. (KSWB)
According to Lt. Nick Backouris of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office, hikers and others at Torrey Pines State Beach reported witnessing a boat capsize near the shore around 6:30 a.m., as he told the Associated Press.
“A doctor hiking nearby called in and said, ‘I see people doing CPR on the beach, I’m running that way,'” Backouris said.
Pangas are open boats designed for fishing but commonly used by smugglers, according to the AP.
The boat that washed ashore near San Diego was about 12 feet long. (KSWB)
In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach amid heavy fog. One boat capsized in the surf, marking one of the deadliest human smuggling operations ever in the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
