By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 3/12/2023 at 7:32 PM, updated 3/12/2023 at 8:31 PM
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U.S. Coast Guard Capt. James Spitler speaks to the media after two fishing boats capsized off San Diego, California March 12, 2023. SANDY HUFFAKER / Portal
Eight people died when two small “smuggling” boats sank off the city of San Diego, California, on Saturday night, March 12, local authorities said.
“This is one of the worst maritime smuggling tragedies in California that I know of,” James Gartland, a San Diego Emergency Medical Services official, said Sunday, appearing to be referring to the migratory flows between Mexico and the United States. The eight victims are adults, he added at a press conference, without revealing their nationality.
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Help was called around 11:30 p.m. Saturday (local time) by a Spanish-speaking person who informed them that a boat carrying about ten passengers had capsized.
No survivors
The first boat “was overturned by the waves,” James Spitler, a San Diego Coast Guard official, said at the news conference. The second boat, which had eight other people on board – including the one calling for help – “managed to reach shore,” he continued.
That’s where rescuers spotted the two small “capsized” fishing boats on the shore before retrieving the bodies of the victims from the sea, James Gartland said.
They “found no survivors” during their operations, but people were able to reach shore and “get off the beach,” James Gartland said. The area where the boats are located is “very dangerous even in broad daylight,” with strong currents, he estimated.
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The city of San Diego is very close to the border between Mexico and the United States. Many migrants cross them illegally, an issue that has become a political issue for Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Migrants who want to escape poverty or violence in their countries of origin often take enormous risks to set foot on American soil.
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