Five Mexican nationals have been arrested and charged after a boat carrying migrants capsized near San Diego and killed at least three people, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced on Tuesday.
The dead included a 14-year-old boy from India, who was on the vessel with his parents and his sister, the authorities said. The father is in a coma, and the mother is also hospitalized, while his sister, 10, is still missing and presumed dead, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The boat, which overturned on Monday, was a panga, a type of open vessel used for carrying people or drugs.
The authorities said they arrested Jesus Ivan Rodriguez-Leyva, 36, and Julio Cesar Zuniga-Luna, 30, on Monday at Torrey Pines State Beach just north of San Diego. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, both have been charged with bringing in aliens resulting in death, which has a maximum penalty of death or life in prison and a $250,000 fine, and with bringing in aliens for financial gain.
Later that night, the authorities arrested Melissa Jennelle Cota, 33, Gustavo Lara, 32, and Sergio Rojas-Fregoso, 31. They have been charged with the transportation of illegal aliens, the U.S. attorney’s office said. If convicted, they face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
None of the defendants had lawyers, and contacts were not provided in court records on Tuesday night.
“The drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly business,” Adam Gordon, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, said in a statement.
The boat’s point of departure and where it was headed were not immediately announced. Eight of the nine migrants who were initially unaccounted for after the boat capsized have been found, the authorities said. Details about the other passengers were not available.
Hank Sanders is a Times reporter and a member of the 2024-25 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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