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 announced that it is “currently searching for 9 missing individuals off the Coast of Del Mar” after it received 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 said 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.”
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“Look for increased law enforcement activity in the area,” they added.
The circumstances leading up to the incident are unclear. Coast Guard officials said they did not know where the 12-foot boat was coming from before it flipped.
Multiple people were taken to a local hospital to be treated for various injuries, Jorge Sanchez, deputy fire chief with the Encinitas Fire Department, told KSWB.
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Hikers and others at Torrey Pines State Beach reported seeing a boat capsize near the shore at about 6:30 a.m., Lt. Nick Backouris of the San Diego Sheriff’s Office 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.
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.
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