Most of those who drowned from alleged smuggling boat are believed to be Mexican citizens: Consulate

The office of the local consulate-general of Mexico announced on Monday that it believed seven of the eight people who drowned off the coast of San Diego County this weekend were Mexican citizens, based on documents some of them had.

Eight people drowned late Saturday night when two suspected smuggling boats capsized off Blacks Beach in the Torrey Pines area. At a press conference on Sunday morning, San Diego Chief of Rescue James Gartland said an unidentified man who spoke Spanish called San Diego air traffic control and told them about the two vessels, which had a total of 15 people on board, that had capsized. . Gartland said no survivors have been found so far and added, “We have lost eight souls.”

Coast Guard spokesman Adam Stanton said on Monday that search operations had been suspended at 4:00 pm Sunday.

Officials don’t yet know if other people made it to the ground or died, according to NBC 7’s Calvin Henry.

The Mexican Consulate General in San Diego said in a statement that it “deeply regrets this tragedy” and “as soon as confirmation is received from the Coroner’s Office on this matter, it will be communicated to their relatives.”

Carlos González Gutiérrez, Mexico’s consul general in San Diego, on Monday thanked the US Coast Guard for its search and rescue efforts. He also urged migrants not to put their lives at risk.

“People planning to cross the border into the United States by land or sea should be aware that smugglers will take advantage of their needs to obtain illegal money, distorting reality, creating false expectations and putting them at risk. where they can die,” Gutierrez said.

According to the Consulate General’s office, those seeking information about missing relatives can contact the consular emergency number at 619-843-6399 or email [email protected], or contact the Mexican Information and Outreach Center ( CIAM) in the US at 520-623-7874.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a call from the San Diego Police Department at 11:35 p.m. Saturday about a boat landing at Blacks Beach, Stanton said. However, a spokesman for the US Coast Guard told NBC 7 on Mondat that rescuers saw the boats before the 911 call came in warning of impending danger.

Thick fog has slowed rescue efforts, but Coast Guard and San Diego Fire and Rescue crews searched the water Sunday for potential survivors or casualties.

Rescuers “did everything they could to get people out of the water trying to find survivors,” Gartland said Sunday.

After an hour of searching for survivors, “after that we were in recovery mode for five hours,” Gartland said, adding that access was difficult due to high tide and coastal cliffs.

Gartland said some boat passengers “may have left the beach, we’re not sure.” He said both vessels were capsized and were inside the coastline when first responders arrived, which was dangerous due to sandbanks and coastal rip currents.

He explained that long coastal holes could cause a back current that would drag people back out to sea, adding that the surf was only 3 feet on Saturday night.

“This is one of the worst maritime smuggling tragedies I can think of in California, especially here in the city of San Diego,” Gartland said.

“These are not necessarily people trying to find a better life,” said Capt. James Spitler, US Coast Guard sector commander in San Diego. “This is part of an effort by a transnational criminal organization to smuggle people into the United States. These people often become victims of human trafficking when they arrive.”

San Diego Fire and Rescue officials said the rescue dispatcher used GPS coordinates from the reporting party’s mobile phone to establish the location, about 800 yards north of the Black Gold Road base. The first rescue party to arrive was unable to reach the beach due to the tide and headed north, wading through knee-deep, waist-deep water.

“After a couple of hundred yards, lifeguards on the beach reached dry sand and then began to find lifeless bodies and two overturned pangs scattered over an area of ​​about 400 yards,” the SDFD said. “First rescuers on site examined a total of seven bodies – they were all dead.”

Rescuers pulled the victims out of the water knee-deep and at the waterline on dry sand. Federal and military rescuers recovered the eighth body, the SDFD said. Authorities also found several life jackets and fuel drums, according to the SDFD.

All victims were transferred to the district forensic examination.

Along with the Coast Guard and SDFD, the San Diego rescuers were assisted by the San Diego Police Department and UC San Diego Police, the state rescue agency, US Customs and Border Patrol, Air Force and Marine Corps operations.

Blacks Beach is a secluded stretch of beach under the bluffs in Torrey Pines on the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, San Diego.

According to immigration lawyer Brian Lopez, there are reasons why people take risky travel.

“A lot of the common themes we find is that people are fleeing terrible conditions that could pose a threat to their lives or the lives of their loved ones. this may be based on persecution for their political opinions, this may be because they live in their home country, are taken over by criminal elements that the government does not want or cannot control. There can be many factors,” Lopez said.

Lopez said he saw no end to the smuggling of panga boats.

“I think that we will still face similar unpleasant incidents, whether they occur on the coast or in a remote desert area, but the problem will not disappear,” Lopez said.

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