SAN DIEGO (AP) – Cale Foy had just started hiking with his wife and three kids as they do every Sunday when he noticed what he thought was an abandoned fishing vessel approaching the rocky, wind-swept San Diego coastline as 5-to-8-foot (1.5-2.4-meter) waves were crashing.
A moment later a wave slammed the boat and Foy saw it hit the rocks. Then he spotted people tossed into the rough sea before the vessel broke into pieces.
“All of a sudden we see people jumping into the waves and on top of the rocks and it was: ‘I have to be there. I have to help,'” Foy said.
The Navy rescue swimmer immediately started running toward the shore in what would become the most dramatic rescue mission of his 17-year career: A migrant smuggling boat overloaded with 32 people on board had capsized and smashed apart as its passengers plunged into the treacherous waters.
Three people were killed and two Mexican migrants remain hospitalized, including one in serious condition, said Carlos Gutierrez Gonzalez, Mexico’s consul general in San Diego.