Four people have died and more than two dozen people were rescued from the water off the coast of Point Loma Sunday after a packed boat being used in a suspected human smuggling operation capsized and broke apart in powerful surf, according to authorities.
Dozens of rescue crews responded to Catalina Boulevard, near the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, at about 10:30 a.m. following reports of an overturned boat in the waves near the rugged peninsula, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department said.
The original call was for a handful of people overboard but as rescuers arrived in boats and jet skis they quickly realized “it was going to be a bigger situation with more people,” said San Diego Lifeguard Services Lt. Rick Romero. “There are people in the water, drowning, getting sucked out the rip current there,” he said, adding that the boat, described as a 40-foot cabin cruiser, "had basically broken apart."