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Five Mexicans were charged with taking part in human smuggling after capsizing San Diego on Monday and carrying a small boat carrying migrants who killed four people, including two children, authorities said.
Tragic new details about the fatal smuggling incident were revealed Tuesday.
According to the US Department of Justice, the body of a 14-year-old boy from India was among the three people who recovered after the accident.
The sibling’s parents were rescued, but the father is now in coma and the mother remains hospitalized.
“The owner’s deaths of these children are heartbreaking memories of traffickers not interested in the cost of fatal business,” our atty. Adam Gordon said in a statement. “We are committed to seeking justice for these vulnerable victims and holding the traffickers responsible for their deaths.”
The U.S. Coast Guard received a call around 6:30am Tuesday reporting that an estimated 16 people on board had been a small panga-style boat that had been overturned just north of Beach, Torrey Pines, was a Coast Guard spokesperson.
Bystanders and San Diego lifeguards managed to save the four of them. Three bodies were recovered from the site, with nine people not initially calculated.
Two suspected smuggling suspects — Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Riva, 36, and Mexico’s Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 30, have been arrested on the beach, prosecutors said.
They are charged with bringing immigrants that result in death, with the highest fine of death or prison death or life. The death penalty remains legal in California, but Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a suspension on enforcement by effectively suspending them during his tenure.
They are also charged with bringing immigrants for financial benefits punishable in prison for up to 10 years.
Three arrests were made Monday night after Border Patrol agents found the car. This was previously seen at the accident site about 25 miles south of Chula Vista, just 10 miles north of the Mexican border. The driver of the vehicle escaped the scene.
The agents continued their investigation and stopped two other vehicles involved in the smuggling incident, authorities said. In the vehicle, they found eight of the nine missing immigrants, except for the 10-year-old girl, prosecutors said.
Vehicle driver – Melissa Generkota, 33, Gustabolala, 32, Sergioloja Soufflegoso, 31, was arrested and charged with undocumented transport of immigrants.
Rojas Fregoso faced additional charges of being in the country illegally after being deported earlier in December 2023, prosecutors said. The charges will be punished in prison for up to two years.
“No matter what route, human smuggling is not only illegal, but extremely dangerous. Smugglers often treat people as disposable products,” Sean Gibson, a special agent responsible for Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement. “The heartbreaking events yesterday are a clear reminder of the urgent need to dismantle these criminal networks driven by greed.”
Immigrant smuggling is a persistent problem along California coastlines and often fatal consequences.
At least eight people died in 2023 when two immigrant smuggling boats were overturned from a Black beach in San Diego County. A year ago, a man and two women were killed when a Panga boat crashed into a rock at the foot of a cliff in Point Roma, San Diego.
Times staff writer Hannafly contributed to this report
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