At least three people were killed when a boat overturned near San Diego on Monday as the Coast Guard, lifeguards and sheriff's deputies launched a search for more victims, authorities said.
The travelers appeared to be migrants, officials said. The exact number of people on board wasn't immediately clear.
"It is a suspected migrant smuggling boat — human smuggling, no drugs — the ones coming up from south of the border," said Petty Officer Chris Sappey, a Coast Guard spokesperson.
At least two children were on board, Sappey added.
In addition to the three who died, at least four other people "were transported to our local hospitals by ambulances," Encinitas Deputy Fire Chief Jorge Sanchez said.
A person on the panga boat — typically a smaller, open, outboard-motor-powered craft — told rescuers 18 people were on board, Sanchez said. It wasn't immediately clear how many are missing or whether any made it to the shores of Torrey Pines State Beach on their own, he said.
"We're just doing our due diligence by checking if there's anybody else in the waters," Sanchez said. "And to this point, I don't have anything else to report as far as missing or accounted for."
The Coast Guard said in a statement that there are nine "missing individuals" following "a report of an overturned vessel" in the waters off Del Mar.
San Diego County sheriff's deputies are also assisting in the "maritime event on the beach near the 200 block of Stratford Court, the sheriff's office said.
The search for possible victims included first responders in helicopters, lifeguards on boats and jet skis and others on foot going up and down the sand looking for anyone in need of medical attention, Sanchez said.
A panga boat capsized in nearby Imperial Beach on Thanksgiving weekend 2002, killing three people.
The captain and co-captain of that vessel were sentenced to 54 and 50 months in federal prison, respectively.
They were trying to smuggle seven adults and an unaccompanied minor into the United States, officials said. The victims were a 39-year-old woman and a 47-year-old man, both from Mexico, and an unidentified young woman, believed to be from Guatemala.
