23 rescued from suspected smuggling boat off California
May. 19, 2021 at 1:00 pm
Twenty-three people were rescued Monday from a suspected smuggling boat off the San Diego coast not far from where another vessel broke up a few weeks ago, killing three people, authorities said.
The small boat, known as a panga, was spotted shortly before 3 a.m. by a U.S. Border Patrol video system as it drifted near rocks off the coast of Point Loma. The Coast Guard responded but the craft refused commands to stop, authorities said.
The boat got stuck in the surf line. San Diego lifeguards and harbor police were called and the Coast Guard pulled the vessel out of the surf and unloaded the people, authorities said.