5 people charged after migrant boat capsized, killing 3, including
14-year-old boy from India
[May 07, 2025]
By JULIE WATSON
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal officials filed charges Tuesday against five
people in connection to a boat carrying migrants that capsized a day
earlier off San Diego's Pacific coast, killing three people, including a
14-year-old boy from India.
The boy's 10-year-old sister is still missing at sea and is presumed
dead, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego said in a statement. Their
parents were among four people who were injured and taken to the
hospital, including the father, who is in a coma.
The other two killed were from Mexico, including an 18-year-old boy and
another man, according to the Mexican consulate. The 18-year-old's
girlfriend, who is 16, remains hospitalized after water filled her
lungs, the consulate said. The consulate is working with the families in
Mexico to repatriate the bodies of those who died.
Nine people were initially reported missing. All but the 10-year-old
girl were found late Monday by Border Patrol agents conducting
operations in the San Diego area, officials said.
The search efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard stopped late Monday. Crews
combed the area via helicopter and a cutter for hours after the boat
flipped shortly after sunrise about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of
the Mexico border. Officials described the skiff as a panga, a small
wooden open-air boat used to fish but also commonly used by smugglers to
bring people into the U.S. from Mexico.
Two Mexican citizens were arrested at the beach near where the boat
overturned. They were charged with human smuggling resulting in death, a
crime that carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison.
Border Patrol agents found eight migrants after they managed to make it
to shore. The agents also identified vehicles with drivers who were
waiting to pick up the migrants as part of the smuggling scheme,
according to court documents.
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A Del Mar lifeguard looks over a capsized boat on the beach Monday,
May. 5, 2025, in at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego, Calif.
(AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
U.S. authorities arrested the three drivers, all Mexican citizens,
and charged them with unlawfully transporting migrants, according to
court documents. One had been deported in 2023 from the U.S.
It was unclear if any of the defendants had defense attorneys, and
they could not be reached for comment. The Mexican consulate said
they have not been contacted by any of the accused yet to ask for
legal help.
Seven of the eight migrants are also from Mexico and were
interviewed by the consular staff.
“The drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder
of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly
business,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said. “We are committed to
seeking justice for these vulnerable victims, and to holding
accountable any traffickers responsible for their deaths.”
Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered
by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders,
including off California’s coast. Pangas leave the Mexican coast in
the dead of night.
In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats
approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog. One capsized in the surf.
It was one of the deadliest maritime smuggling cases in waters off
the U.S. coast.
A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in
2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that
smashed apart in powerful surf off San Diego’s coast, killing three
people and injuring more than two dozen others.
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