SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal officials filed charges Tuesday against five people in connection to a boat carrying migrants that capsized a day earlier off San Diego’s Pacific coast, killing three people, including a 14-year-old boy from India.
The boy’s 10-year-old sister is still missing at sea and is presumed dead, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego said in a statement. Their parents were among four people who were injured and taken to the hospital, including the father, who is in a coma.
The other two killed were from Mexico, including an 18-year-old boy and another man, according to the Mexican consulate. The 18-year-old’s girlfriend, who is 16, remains hospitalized after water filled her lungs, the consulate said. The consulate is working with the families in Mexico to repatriate the bodies of those who died.
Nine people were initially reported missing. All but the 10-year-old girl were found late Monday by Border Patrol agents conducting operations in the San Diego area, officials said.
The search efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard stopped late Monday. Crews combed the area via helicopter and a cutter for hours after the boat flipped shortly after sunrise about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the Mexico border. Officials described the skiff as a panga, a small wooden open-air boat used to fish but also commonly used by smugglers to bring people into the U.S. from Mexico.