A boat carrying multiple migrants washed up on shore Sunday morning near Windansea Beach, in La Jolla.
“My neighbor asked me if I could smell gas. I said, yes, and I noticed the boat along the reef here,” Jon Burland, a local surfer, said.
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WATCH HEREAccording to the Customs and Border Patrol, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted the 24-foot cuddy cabin-style boat around 5 a.m. They saw multiple people getting off the boat and running towards the intersection of Coast Blvd. and Prospect St.
CBP said agents from the Imperial Beach Station responded and apprehended nine migrants who were taken to a nearby border patrol station to be processed for removal.
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SIGN UP “In the water, you could smell the gas,” Burland said.
Burland woke up early Sunday morning to ride some waves when he noticed a hazmat team, border patrol, police, and a lifeguard along the coast.
“It seemed weird that no one had done anything to the boat, because it had now been hours since it had happened,” Burland said.
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He captured drone video as he walked over the boat and pulled out a jug of gasoline and what appeared like a car battery.
“Yeah, it’s very sad and it’s terrible that people come to that and hire people, and fortunately, no one got hurt,” Burland said.
The boat sat there for hours before it was towed. CBP said the boat was seized by border patrol.
Hilary Cole was walking her dog and found it odd to see an abandoned boat, but she later found out what happened.
“It just makes me sad for humanity and this world that people feel so unsafe and desparte from the conditions that they’re in that they have to go through these drastic measures to hopefully, maybe have something better,” Cole said.
It is unclear if there were more people on the boat.
