Eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach and one capsized, authorities said Sunday.

"We lost eight souls," lifeguard chief James Gartland told a press conference, adding that it was "one of the worst maritime smuggling tragedies that I can think of in California, certainly here in the city of San Diego."

Crews were initially searching for an estimated seven additional missing people, but Gartland added that several migrants may have left the beach by the time the teams arrived on the scene.

Reports of boats in trouble

San Diego Fire-Rescue said in a statement that a search and recovery operation began late Saturday night when the department received calls about fishing boats in distress off the coast of the city's Black's Beach.

The beach lies about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of downtown San Diego.

A Spanish-speaking 911 caller said she had been on a fishing boat with eight people that had made it to shore, but that there was another boat with 8 to 10 people aboard that had overturned, the statement said.

Emergency crews responded to the scene and found two overturned panga fishing boats and lifeless bodies spread over an area of about 400 yards (366 meters).

Thick fog hampered the search for additional victims.

A Coast Guard cutter combed the area early Sunday, and officials hoped to get helicopters in the air when the weather improves, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm said.

It was unclear if any arrests were made among the survivors, and the nationalities of the passengers were unknown.

Small boats, surfboards used by smugglers

Officials said pangas — small open boats with outboard engines used in smuggling operations — often come ashore there.

There have also been incidents of migrants swimming or traveling by surfboard to cross into the United States, said Eric Lavergne, special operations supervisor with the US Border Patrol in San Diego.

Lavergne said this was one of a few hundred migrant smuggling events recorded in his jurisdiction this fiscal year, which is on track with the rate in recent years.

Illegal crossings have soared under President Joe Biden, with many migrants turning themselves in to Border Patrol agents and being released in the US to pursue their cases in immigration court.

In May 2021, a packed boat used in a human smuggling operation capsized and broke apart along the rocky San Diego coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen others.

Pandemic rule denied asylum 

A rule introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic denies migrants a chance to seek asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of the virus.

Mexico has agreed to take back its nationals, along with those from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

As a result, people of those four countries have been more likely to try to evade capture, knowing they are likely to be expelled.

The US rule is scheduled to end on May 11.

mm/fb (AFP, AP, Reuters)