US Coast Guards state that at least four have died, and 27 were injured during the incident.
Navy Sailor Cale Foy was off-duty and spending the day with his family near the water in Point Loma, near San Diego, California. What came next was a scene right out of a movie. "I gave everything to my wife and said I'll see you in a little bit and just jumped in the water," he explains. This was after he saw a boat with dozens of people on board capsized.
Cale and another person currently training to be a Navy Seal, were the first ones on the scene. They helped survivors get to floating pieces of debris before other help arrived. He describes the incident, saying, “Everyone was panicking, everyone was yelling."
According to lifeguards, conditions were very rough. There was five to six feet of surf, it was windy and cold, and the water temperature was around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. US Coast Guards report that at least four people have died, and 27 from the boat were injured. "Yeah, it's a tragedy,” says James Gartland, San Diego Lifeguard Chief. “It’s a tragic event here in San Diego. And probably one of the bigger vessel accidents and bigger calls that we've seen here. Certainly in my 26 years.”
About 93 rescuers responded to the crash scene, including lifeguards and San Diego and Federal firefighters... as well as personnel from the US Coast Guards and Customs and Border Protection.
Even more alarming is officials believe this was more than just a tragic boating accident. As explained by Jeffery Stephenson, Customs and Border Protection, “So every indication from our perspective is that this was a smuggling vessel used to smuggle migrants into the United States illegally.” He adds, “They don't care about the people they're exploiting. All they care about is profit. To them, these people are just commodities.”
Agents are interviewing the survivors, as well as the person believed to be the boat’s captain.
