During a Thursday news conference on the matter, a US Border Patrol agent told reporters that law enforcement officials spotted "several subjects in the water in distress" when they first encountered the vessel near San Diego's La Jolla shore.
While San Diego Fire-Rescue Department's Station 13 was able to rescue 10 people from "rough water conditions," one individual died at the scene.
Eight of the 10 rescued individuals were taken to area hospitals. Five other individuals from the panga were able to make it to the shore without assistance.
here’s video of the panga... officials have it docked at Children’s Pool pic.twitter.com/6VY6RxJt7l
— Jacqueline Sarkissian (@JSarkissian) May 20, 2021
"All individuals were determined to be unlawfully present inside the United States and were transported to a border patrol station for processing," the agent said, as reported by NBC San Diego.
According to the Border Patrol agent, officials have observed an increase in maritime apprehensions within the "past couple of fiscal years."
"Last fiscal year was actually a record year for maritime apprehensions with 1,273 apprehensions in the maritime environment," the agent said. "This fiscal year, which won’t end until the end of September, we’re already approaching 1,100 so we’re on pace to break that record again."
Almost two dozen illegal migrants were taken into US Customs and Border Protection custody on Monday after members of the US Coast Guard engaged the vessel near Point Loma, approximately 12 miles from La Jolla.
No injuries were reported in this case.
On May 2, three people died and at least 29 others were rescued after their 40-foot cabin cruiser capsized near Point Loma. Authorities transferred the dozens of injured individuals to area hospitals.
"The man who we believe was the operator, agents are with him, and is the suspected smuggler, but the investigation is still unfolding," said Jeff Stephenson, a supervising agent with US Border Patrol.
