Four Dead, Two Dozen Injured in Suspected Maritime Migrant Smuggling Operation
Climbing body count from the border crisis
By Andrew R. Arthur on May 4, 2021
Four people were killed and two dozen injured on Sunday when a 40-foot cabin cruiser was “pummeled to pieces in the surf” off Cabrillo National Monument at San Diego's Point Loma in a suspected migrant smuggling operation on Sunday. The death toll from the current migrant crisis continues to climb, as migrants are attempting to evade Border Patrol apprehension.
This does not appear to have been a simple pleasure cruise. The boat was carrying approximately 30 individuals in what were described as “severely crowded conditions without adequate safety equipment”.
The first call for assistance went out at 10:00 AM on May 2, and Coast Guard, state, and local authorities responded to the scene. Reuters quoted Rick Romero, lifeguard lieutenant for San Diego Fire-Rescue, who stated: “When we arrived on the scene ... [t]here were people in the water, drowning, getting sucked out of the rip current.”
https://cis.org/Arthur/Four-Dead-Two-Dozen-Injured-Suspected-Maritime-Migrant-Smuggling-Operation
