Four dead after wooden boat carrying migrants capsizes off San Diego
A wooden boat believed to be carrying migrants toward the U.S. capsized in rough waters near San Diego, leaving at least four dead and four hospitalized, authorities said Saturday.
The U.S. Border Patrol discovered 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, while another was rescued after being trapped under the boat. About two hours later, a report came in of someone in the water near Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew responded and found three more people deceased in the ocean. The search for any additional passengers is ongoing.
Several survivors identified as Mexican, while others remain unidentified. 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 individuals attempting to enter the United States by sea in unstable vessels,” said Coast Guard Capt. Robert Tucker, commander of Sector San Diego.
The vessel, a panga—a type of open fishing boat often used by smugglers—capsized amid a strong storm system that struck Southern California over the weekend, bringing warnings of flash flooding and mudslides. Migrants increasingly rely on maritime routes to avoid heavily guarded land borders, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles north from Mexico in these dangerous boats.
Similar incidents have occurred in recent years off California’s coast. In May, at least three people died when a panga flipped about 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2023, eight people were killed when two smuggling vessels approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog, and one capsized. In 2022, a San Diego man was sentenced to 18 years in prison after piloting a vessel carrying 32 migrants that broke apart in strong surf, killing three and injuring more than two dozen.
Globally, nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, marking a fifth consecutive record year, according to the U.N. Missing Migrant Project. Between 2014 and 2024, over 24,500 people went missing or died in the central Mediterranean alone, with many lost at sea and unrecorded.
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