Suspected Human Trafficking in US Leaves Almost 30 Casualties

Four people were killed and more than two dozen others were hospitalized after a wooden boat capsized Sunday during a possible human smuggling operation just off the San Diego coast, authorities said.

Local lifeguards, the US Coast Guard and other agencies responded around 10:30 a.m. following reports of an overturned vessel near the peninsula of Point Loma, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, according to ABC News.

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.

When officials arrived on the scene near the Cabrillo National Monument there was a "large debris field" of broken wood and other items in the choppy waters. The wreckage of the vessel slowly disintegrated in the ocean after hitting a reef.

Seven people were found in the water, including three who had drowned, said Romero. One person was rescued from a cliff and the others managed to make it to shore on their own, he said.

Officials initially said 30 people were found, but the Coast Guard later said a total of 29 people were accounted for, including one person in critical condition and the four deceased individuals.

The Coast Guard said crews were still searching for more, since there was no official record of how many people were actually on the boat.

Twenty-five people were transported to hospitals with "a wide variety of injuries" including hypothermia, Romero said. Most of the victims were able to walk themselves to ambulances, he said.

Officials said the vessel is larger than the typical open-top wooden panga-style boats often used by smugglers to bring people illegally to the US from Mexico.