07-05-2025
5 Charged After Deadly Migrant Boat Incident in California
Five Mexican nationals have been arrested and charged after a boat carrying migrants capsized near San Diego and killed at least three people, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California announced on Tuesday.
The dead included a 14-year-old boy from India, who was on the vessel with his parents and his sister, the authorities said. The father is in a coma, and the mother is also hospitalized, while his sister, 10, is still missing and presumed dead, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
The boat, which overturned on Monday, was a panga, a type of open vessel used for carrying people or drugs.
The authorities said they arrested Jesus Ivan Rodriguez-Leyva, 36, and Julio Cesar Zuniga-Luna, 30, on Monday at Torrey Pines State Beach just north of San Diego. According to the U.S. attorney's office, both have been charged with bringing in aliens resulting in death, which has a maximum penalty of death or life in prison and a $250,000 fine, and with bringing in aliens for financial gain.
