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The sinking of a trawler-like boat loaded with people in search of a better life in the United States was the latest evidence that tougher border security is driving smugglers into the ocean.
Smugglers increasingly employ boats like the one that broke up on a Point Loma reef Sunday to get people and drugs into the United States undetected, according to border officials. The accident sent 32 people into the cold, rough waters, killing four.
Arrests at sea in the San Diego sector nearly doubled in 2020 from the year before, to 1,273 from 662, according to data provided by Shane Crottie, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Local operations seized 118 vessels in 309 smuggling attempts last year, up from 80 boats and 195 attempts in 2019. So far in fiscal year 2021, which began on Oct. 1, there have been 156 local maritime smuggling attempts, 909 arrests and 76 vessels seized.
The Medical Examiner said the cause of death for all three people was drowning. Author: CBS News 8 Team Published: 10:51 AM PDT May 4, 2021 Updated: 11:49 AM PDT May 4, 2021
SAN DIEGO The San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office has released the names of the three people who died aboard the suspected smuggling boat. The Medical Examiner said 41-year-old Maria Eugenia Chavez-Segovia, 29-year-old Victor Perez Degollado and 35-year-old Maricela Hernandez Sanchez all died from drowning.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, 29 others were taken to the hospital with varying degrees of injuries. As of Monday night, five remained hospitalized.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol put out a press release that read in part, “Preliminary checks by U.S. Border Patrol agents indicate that all except two of the people on board the boat were Mexican nationals with no legal status to enter the U.S. One of the two non-Mexican individu
UPDATE: Coast Guard suspends response to overturned boat near Point Loma
SAN DIEGO The Coast Guard suspended its response Monday morning to an overturned boat near the Point Loma Tide Pools in the Cabrillo National Monument.
The Coast Guard Cutter Haddock crew relieved the Blackfin and remained on scene through the night to continue searching for survivors from the capsized, 40-foot trawler-style boat while the Coast Guard and partner agencies worked to verify the number of people aboard.
Thirty-two people have been accounted for. Twenty-nine people are alive, of which, five were taken to the hospital with one of the five remaining in critical condition and three people were declared deceased by the San Diego County medical examiner.
At Least 3 Dead, Dozens Hurt in Suspected Human Smuggling Boat Crash The boat, which did not look like pangas often used in human smuggling operations, likely blended in with other commercial boats as it made its way along San Diego s coast, officials said
Published May 3, 2021 •
Updated on May 5, 2021 at 1:46 pm
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An investigation was ongoing Monday into a suspected human smuggling operation after a 40-foot cabin cruiser capsized in rugged waters off the coast of San Diego, killing at least three people and injuring dozens, according to officials.
The U.S. Border Patrol said there is every indication to believe the boat was a smuggling vessel used to traffic migrants into the U.S. illegally but the investigation into where the boat came from and its path into U.S. waters was still ongoing.