SAN DIEGO: Federal officials on Monday charged a man believed to be the captain of a boat carrying migrants that capsized near San Diego, killing four passengers.
The man, a Mexican national, was charged with two counts of bringing people into the country illegally.
US Border Patrol agents were notified at about 11:30 p.m. Friday of a small boat crossing the international maritime boundary between Mexico and the US
The Border Patrol found the wooden skiff in the surf off Imperial Beach after it had overturned in high waves. Six people were found on the beach just before midnight, one of whom was pronounced dead and another who was rescued after being found under the boat.
About two hours later, authorities received a report of someone in the water near Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew responded and found three people in the ocean, all dead.
The five survivors were transported to a hospital for treatment.
According to the complaint, several passengers said the boat had engine problems. They urged the captain to return to Mexico, but he refused.
One man was trapped inside the cabin below deck when the boat overturned and submerged with him and several others inside, the complaint said. He was freed after Border Patrol agents flipped the boat over. Another was injured after he was trapped under the boat and a piece of metal penetrated his leg, the complaint said.
The suspected captain faces up to life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.
“Maritime smuggling is extremely dangerous, and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law every individual responsible for these preventable tragedies,” US Attorney Adam Gordon said in a press release.
Another man was a passenger on the boat and charged for being deported and trying to enter the US again illegally. He was first removed from the US in 2012 and most recently on Nov. 3 of this year.
Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders, including off California’s coast. Vessels leave Mexico in the dead of night and sometimes chart hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.
There have been several incidents in recent years of migrant vessels capsizing en route to California.
Man accused of captaining migrant boat that capsized, killing 4, is charged
https://arab.news/g35e4
Man accused of captaining migrant boat that capsized, killing 4, is charged
- The man, a Mexican national, was charged with two counts of bringing people into the country illegally
- The Border Patrol found the wooden skiff in the surf off Imperial Beach after it had overturned in high waves
18 killed in central Myanmar airstrike
- Two bombs were dropped on Tabayin township in Sagaing region
- A rescue worker who arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the strike said seven people were killed on the spot
TABAYIN, Myanmar: Eighteen people were killed in an airstrike on a town in central Myanmar, according to a local official, a rescue worker and two residents who spoke to AFP on Saturday.
Myanmar has been rocked by civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, and its battles with numerous anti-coup fighters have brought frequent airstrikes that often kill civilians.
Two bombs were dropped on Tabayin township in Sagaing region on Friday evening, with one hitting a busy teashop, according to a local administration official.
He told AFP that 18 people were killed and 20 were wounded in the attacks.
“Deaths were high at the teashop as it was crowded time,” he said. All of the sources who spoke to AFP requested anonymity for their protection.
A rescue worker who arrived on the scene 15 minutes after the strike said seven people were killed on the spot and 11 others died later at hospital.
The teashop — a traditional social hub in Myanmar — and around a dozen houses nearby were “totally destroyed,” he said.
A survivor said he was watching a televised boxing match in the teashop when the bomb hit.
“As soon as I heard aircraft fly over, I got my body to the ground,” he said, adding that the sound from the blast was deafening.
“I saw a big fire over my head... I was lucky, I returned home after that.”
A junta spokesman did not answer a call from an AFP reporter.
Funerals for those killed were held on Saturday, with some victims’ faces covered by towels as they had been rendered unrecognizable, a local resident said.
“I feel very sad because I knew some of them very well,” she said.
A junta airstrike in Sagaing in May killed 22 people, including 20 children, despite a purported ceasefire called after a devastating earthquake hit Myanmar.
