Thread: 15 People Rescued at Sea Near San Diego

15 People Rescued at Sea Near San Diego
By ELLIOT SPAGAT – 56 minutes ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Fifteen people were rescued from a boat off the Pacific coast Wednesday after they were stranded for three days in an apparent human smuggling attempt gone bad, authorities said.

Officials of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Customs and Border Protection agency found the vessel 8 or 9 miles offshore, near the Mexico border, Customs spokesman Vince Bond said. Some people were dehydrated and sunburned, but no one required medical treatment, he said.

All 15 were taken to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and placed into the custody of immigration authorities, Bond said. Their nationalities and immigration status were not immediately known.

Bond said a pleasure cruise had noticed people waving from the boat and called a private towing company, which alerted authorities.

"We don't know if they're undocumented Mexican migrants or not," Bond said. "Conventional wisdom would think that's the case, but we don't know yet."

The rescue comes amid a spate of smuggling attempts on California's Pacific waters.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have identified about 20 human smuggling boats in the San Diego area since August, said spokeswoman Lauren Mack. Those makeshift watercraft were found adrift, washed ashore or carrying illegal immigrants.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported in those attempts.

It is unclear whether sea smuggling is on the rise because ICE hasn't kept a tally, but it is unusual for smugglers to attempt an ocean route in the winter, Mack said.

The boats are often launched on the 50-mile Mexican coastal stretch south of the border, between Tijuana and Ensenada, and many land in Del Mar, an upscale San Diego suburb about 30 miles north of the border, Mack said. The boats are usually guided by inexperienced seamen.
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WHATEVER

WHATEVER

Exactly.