Eight persons have already been confirmed deceased after two boats carrying a “group of immigrants” collided off Black’s Beach, the San Diego Police Department reported.
The issue is being managed by San Diego Lifeguards, according to the police spokesman, as search and rescue operations carry on.
A KNSD reporter tweeted that the Coast Guard, the San Diego Fire Department, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol all responded, with the original death toll being listed as 6.
A fire officer explained how the night’s rescue operations were impeded by dense fog. It’s unknown how many individuals may have reached land.
“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.
Just after 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, a lady contacted 911 to report that she had traveled from Mexico via boat and that one of the boats had capsized. This is when police first became aware of the situation. The caller said that when the second boat capsized, nine to ten persons may have been in the water.
