8 dead after 2 suspected smuggling boats crash near San Diego

SAN DIEGO — At least eight people died after two suspected smuggling boats crashed off the coast of San Diego late Saturday, authorities said.

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According to the San Diego Police Department, eight bodies were recovered from the water at Black’s Beach in the Torrey Pines neighborhood of the city, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Officials believe that at least one of the vessels had capsized, according to the newspaper.

Daniel Eddy, San Diego Fire-Rescue’s deputy chief of operations, told The Associated Press that there was a long debris field on Black’s Beach, which is jointly owned by the city of San Diego and the state of California.

According to the Union-Tribune, officials said that thick fog in the area hampered search efforts overnight. Helicopters from San Diego Fire-Rescue and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with a cutter from the Coast Guard, will resume the search on Sunday.

“We couldn’t get any helicopters up. We had boats in the water, but at first light, once all the conditions clear, we will have Coast Guard out here and San Diego Fire-Rescue and lifeguards doing a joint search through the water for any possible victims that are left,” Daniel Eddy, San Diego Fire-Rescue’s deputy chief of operations, told OnScene TV.

At about 11:30 p.m. local time, San Diego Fire-Rescue Department lifeguards received a 911 call from a woman who said she was on a panga boat with 15 people on board, KNSD-TV reported. The woman added that her boat made it to Black’s Beach, but that another panga boat had capsized, according to the television station.

Lifeguards at the scene pulled seven bodies to the shore, KGTV reported. Border patrol officials later found an eighth body, according to the television station. The bodies were taken to the San Diego County Medical Examiner.