SAN DIEGO — A small boat capsized and apparently broke apart off the coast of Point Loma Sunday morning, leaving at least two people dead and nearly two dozen hospitalized in what officials said was a suspected human smuggling attempt.
Emergency crews got the call shortly before 10:30 a.m. after parks workers found people in distress in the water near the Cabrillo National Monument, officials said.
Lifeguards helped pull 25 victims from the water, five of whom were in “CPR status,” meaning they were having trouble breathing, said Jose Ysea, a spokesman with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Two people died and 23 others who suffered what Ysea described as “varying degrees of injuries” were taken to local hospitals.
Scanner traffic earlier had pegged the number of victims at 27.
Reports indicated the group had been riding in a low-slung panga, a type of boat often used by smugglers to bring people illegally into the U.S. from Mexico.
Ysea said by time he got to the scene, near the national monument, a large “debris field” could be seen in the water.
“It is very rocky over there, and the waves — while they weren’t too high — they looked pretty strong,” he said, enough to slam a boat into the rocks.
Several Coast Guard vessels were sent to the area and were searching for victims, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jeffery Stephenson.
San Diego fire officials said they assigned 93 people to work the incident, including medics, engine crews and a chaplain.
