On Saturday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for missing maritime migrants from a vessel that capsized just off Imperial Beach on Friday night. 

At 2340 hours on Friday, Coast Guard Sector San Diego received an alert from Imperial Beach Border Patrol that a panga-style boat in the surf near Seacoast Drive. Five minutes later, the sector command center learned that six foreign nationals were on the beach, including one deceased and one who had to be rescued from beneath the capsized vessel. 

A good Samaritan spotted bodies in the water near Imperial Beach Pier and reported it at 0145 hours on Saturday. All were recovered by a Coast Guard boat crew and transferred to Ballast Point, where local EMS responders pronounced them deceased. 

Four survivors were transported to a hospital by emergency medical services, and one individual was taken into custody by Imperial Beach Border Patrol. Several claimed Mexican citizenship but the others remain unidentified.

Responders believed that additional personnel had been aboard the panga and may have gone into the water. A large-scale search was launched, and rescue crews from multiple agencies and Coast Guard units responded, including personnel from local fire departments, the San Diego Sheriff’s…