3 killed and 9 missing after small boat capsizes off San Diego, Coast Guard says

Officials say three people were killed, four were injured and nine others are missing after a small boat overturned in the ocean off San Diego

Three people were killed, four were injured and nine others are missing after a small boat overturned early Monday in high surf off San Diego's coast.

U.S. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters were searching for the missing while the four injured were sent to hospitals, authorities said. Coast Guard officials said they did not know where the 12-foot (3.6-meter) boat was coming from before it flipped.

Hikers and others at Torrey Pines State Beach reported seeing a boat capsize near the shore at about 6:30 a.m., said Lt. Nick Backouris of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department.

“A doctor hiking nearby called in and said, ‘I see people doing CPR on the beach, I’m running that way,'” Backouris said.

Pangas are open boats designed for fishing but commonly used by smugglers.

In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach amid heavy fog. One boat capsized in the surf, marking one of the deadliest human smuggling operations ever in the U.S.