5 people charged after migrant boat capsized, killing 3, including 14-year-old boy from India

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal officials filed charges Tuesday against five people in connection to a boat carrying migrants that capsized a day earlier off San Diego's Pacific coast, killing three people, including a 14-year-old boy from India.

The boy's 10-year-old sister is still missing at sea and is presumed dead, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego said in a statement. Their parents were among four people who were injured and taken to the hospital, including the father, who is in a coma.

The other two killed were from Mexico, including an 18-year-old boy and another man, according to the Mexican consulate. The 18-year-old's girlfriend, who is 16, remains hospitalized after water filled her lungs, the consulate said. The consulate is working with the families in Mexico to repatriate the bodies of those who died.

Nine people were initially reported missing. All but the 10-year-old girl were found late Monday by Border Patrol agents conducting operations in the San Diego area, officials said.

The search efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard stopped late Monday. Crews combed the area via helicopter and a cutter for hours after the boat flipped shortly after sunrise about 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of the Mexico border. Officials described the skiff as a panga, a small wooden open-air boat used to fish but also commonly used by smugglers to bring people into the U.S. from Mexico.

Two Mexican citizens were arrested at the beach near where the boat overturned. They were charged with human smuggling resulting in death, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison.

Border Patrol agents found eight migrants after they managed to make it to shore. The agents also identified vehicles with drivers who were waiting to pick up the migrants as part of the smuggling scheme, according to court documents.

U.S. authorities arrested the three drivers, all Mexican citizens, and charged them with unlawfully transporting migrants, according to court documents. One had been deported in 2023 from the U.S.

It was unclear if any of the defendants had defense attorneys, and they could not be reached for comment. The Mexican consulate said they have not been contacted by any of the accused yet to ask for legal help.

Seven of the eight migrants are also from Mexico and were interviewed by the consular staff.

“The drowning deaths of these children are a heartbreaking reminder of how little human traffickers care about the costs of their deadly business,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said. “We are committed to seeking justice for these vulnerable victims, and to holding accountable any traffickers responsible for their deaths.”

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. Pangas leave the Mexican coast in the dead of night.

In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog. One capsized in the surf. It was one of the deadliest maritime smuggling cases in waters off the U.S. coast.

A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off San Diego’s coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen others.

Life jackets and personal items are seen in a boat that capsized Monday, May 5, 2025, at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

A law enforcement officer walks past capsized boat on the beach Monday, May 5, 2025, in at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Del Mar lifeguards looks over a capsized boat on the beach Monday, May 5, 2025, in at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Del Mar lifeguards looks over a capsized boat on the beach Monday, May 5, 2025, in at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

A Del Mar lifeguard looks over a capsized boat on the beach Monday, May. 5, 2025, in at Torrey Pines State beach in San Diego, Calif. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Angels reached a confidential settlement Friday in a lawsuit over the drug overdose death of pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

The decision to settle was reached after a two-month civil trial in Southern California over whether the Angels should be held responsible for Skaggs’ 2019 death after he snorted a fentanyl-laced pill provided by the team’s communications director, Eric Kay.

Skaggs’ widow, Carli, and his parents filed the lawsuit alleging the MLB team knew or should have known Kay was a drug addict and dealing painkillers to players. The settlement closes a painful six-year process, the Skaggs family said in a statement.

“We are deeply grateful to the members of this jury, and to our legal team,” the family said in the statement. "Their engagement and focus gave us faith, and now we have finality. This trial exposed the truth and we hope Major League Baseball will now do its part in holding the Angels accountable. While nothing can bring Tyler back, we will continue to honor his memory.”

The team has contended officials didn’t know Skaggs was taking drugs and would have sought him help if they did.

“The death of Tyler Skaggs remains a tragedy, and this trial sheds light on the dangers of opioid use and the devastating effects it can have," the team said in a statement Friday.

Jurors began deliberating earlier this week.

Orange County Superior Court Judge H. Shaina Colover thanked jurors for their diligence. “That is why this matter was able to be resolved today,” she said, before releasing them.

Six years ago, the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher was found dead in the suburban Dallas hotel room where he was staying as the Angels were supposed to open a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report said the player choked to death on his vomit, and a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl and oxycodone was found in his system.

Kay, a longtime Angels employee, was convicted in 2022 of providing Skaggs with a counterfeit oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl and sentenced to 22 years in prison. His criminal trial in Texas included testimony from five MLB players who said they received oxycodone from Kay at various times from 2017 to 2019.

In California, MLB players including outfielder Mike Trout, Angels president John Carpino, and Skaggs’ and Kay’s relatives testified during the trial in a Santa Ana courtroom. Witnesses for the plaintiffs described how Kay was acting erratic at the stadium and found with multiple plastic bags filled with pills at his home and later hospitalized for a drug overdose. They also recounted how Kay got players massage appointments, tee times and even prescription medication, and was paid by players for stunts like taking a fastball to the leg.

Angels attorneys pointed out that Skaggs was hooked on painkillers before he signed with the Angels in 2013. They said Skaggs got his teammates into taking pills and got Kay to provide them, but kept it secret out of concern it could jeopardize their MLB careers. Had team officials known Kay was dealing drugs, or Skaggs was taking them, they would have done something, the lawyers said.

Witnesses also sparred during the case over how much money Skaggs would have made as a pitcher had he lived. Experts for the plaintiffs said he could have reeled in between $91 million and $101 million, while the Angels put the figure at no more than $32 million.

Skaggs had been a regular in the Angels’ starting rotation since late 2016 and struggled with injuries repeatedly during that time. He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Skaggs’ death, the MLB reached a deal with the players association to start testing for opioids and to refer those who test positive to the treatment board.

Rusty Hardin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, welcomed the settlement and said the amount remains confidential. Hardin said there were rules in place and the Angels ignored them.

“The changes need to be by teams like the Angels who let this happen,” Hardin said.

Before the judge announced the settlement Friday, jurors had remained behind closed doors after lawyers for both sides had gone to speak with Colover.

Late Wednesday, jurors had sent out a note asking whether they “get to decide the punitive damage amount,” saying there is no field for it on the verdict form. The judge said she would send a note replying that if they decide there should be punitive damages, they would decide how much at a later time.

The jury did not work on Thursday and resumed deliberations Friday morning.

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court, in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorney Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Judge H. Shaina Colover listens as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

Attorneys listen as Daniel Dutko gives his closing arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit by the family of pitcher Tyler Skaggs against the Los Angeles Angels in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, Calif., Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (Paul Bersebach/The Orange County Register via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this June 29, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to an Oakland Athletics batter during a baseball game in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)