At least eight people have died after two boats capsized off the California coast, emergency services have said.
A search began after the boats got in trouble off Black’s Beach, San Diego.
A 911 caller told emergency services she had been on a boat with eight people that made it to shore, but another vessel, carrying eight to 10 people, had capsized.
San Diego Lifeguard chief James Gartland called it one of the state’s worst maritime smuggling tragedies.
Officials said they did not know the nationalities of the victims but they were all adults.
Emergency responders from several agencies found two overturned boats with bodies spread over an area and a search operation continued into yesterday morning. END