A wooden boat carrying migrants capsized during a storm off the coast of San Diego (California), killing at least four people, the US Coast Guard said.
According to the agency, the boat was spotted by the US Border Patrol late Friday night near Imperial Beach. San Diego Sector Commander Robert Tucker said the incident demonstrates the “serious risks” to people trying to reach the US by boat.
According to preliminary reports, the boat capsized due to a powerful storm that hit southern California.
Around midnight, rescuers found six people on the beach-one dead, four hospitalised, and another transferred to the US Department of Homeland Security.
About two hours later, law enforcement received a report of a person in the water near the Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew arriving on the scene found three more dead people in the ocean.
Earlier in December last year, 61 people died in a boat crash off the coast of Libya. The boat, on which migrants were trying to sail to Europe, was overcrowded and capsized with at least 86 people on board, many of them children.
According to the UN refugee agency, in 2023, more than 153,000 asylum seekers arrived in Europe via Libya and Tunisia on the Mediterranean Sea.