Five people were charged after a boat carrying migrants overturned Monday near San Diego, killing a 14-year-old boy from India and at least two other people, authorities said.
The group, all Mexican nationals, were charged in two federal complaints, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release Tuesday.
They have been identified as Jesus Ivan Rodriguez-Leyva, 36; Julio Cesar Zuniga-Luna, 30; Melissa Jennelle Cota, 33; Gustavo Lara, 32; and Sergio Rojas-Fregosa, 31.
Zuniga-Luna and Rodriguez-Leyva were arrested Monday on charges of bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain, the U.S. attorney's office said. They were found at a beach in Del Mar where witnesses saw the overturned panga-style boat.
Cota, Lara and Rojas-Fregosa — who officials said were deported in December 2023 — were charged with transportation of illegal aliens.
The Coast Guard, lifeguards and sheriff’s deputies assisted in the search. Law enforcement recovered three bodies, including the teenager’s.
Four other people were rescued and hospitalized, including the teen's mother and father, who is in a coma, the U.S. attorney's office said.
It was initially believed that nine people from the boat were missing. Eight of them were found Monday night after Border Patrol agents found a vehicle in Chula Vista, California, that had been at the scene of what authorities said was a smuggling incident.
"The driver of the vehicle fled the scene. During the investigation, Border Patrol Agents identified two other vehicles that were involved in the smuggling event and were able to successfully stop and arrest the drivers of these load vehicles and locate eight of the nine migrants missing from the boat," the news release said.
The remaining missing person is the teen's 10-year-old sister, who is believed to still be missing at sea and is presumed dead, the U.S. attorney's office said.
"The drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly business," U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said in a statement. "We are committed to seeking justice for these vulnerable victims, and to holding accountable any traffickers responsible for their deaths."
