As many as eight people have died after two boats capsized off the Black's Beach in San Diego coast, California. The search operations began after the boats got in trouble off and atleast seven are feared missing.
According to reports, a 911 caller told emergency services she had been on a boat with eight people that made it to shore. Reportedly there was another vessel carrying 10 people that had capsized.
James Gartland, San Diego Lifeguard has called it one of the state's worst maritime smuggling tragedies.
Meanwhile the officials are yet to confirm the nationalities of the victims. However, all the victims were adults, said the officials.
Though the cause of the incident is unclear, Gartland described the area as "hazardous" due to sand bars and in-shore rip currents, reported BBC.
One small boat which was carrying more passengers "overturned in the surf", while the other managed to reach the shore, said James Spitler, a sector commander for the San Diego Coast Guard, while addressing the media.
"This is not necessarily people trying to find a better life. This is part of a transnational criminal organisation effort to smuggle people into the United States. These people are often labour trafficked and sex trafficked when they arrive," Spitler was quoted by BBC.
It was one of a few hundred migrant smuggling events recorded in the area over past five months, Eric Lavergene, a US Border Patrol Officer told Reuters.
In 2021, four people had died and two dozen injured in a similar incident off the coast of San Diego.