4 dead, dozens injured after suspected smuggling boat capsizes near San Diego

Four people were killed and dozens of others hospitalized after an overcrowded boat capsized and broke off the coast of San Diego, per a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard late Sunday.

Driving the news: Authorities believe the 40-foot cabin cruiser was being used in a "suspected human smuggling operation," AP notes.

• "Twenty-nine people have reportedly been accounted for, consisting of twenty-four people alive, four people declared deceased by local emergency medical services personnel and one person who was last reported to be in critical condition," per the Coast Guard statement.
• Authorities said earlier that 27 people were hospitalized following the capsizing.

The big picture: State parks workers found people in distress in the waters on Sunday morning. Lifeguards helped pull 25 people onto shore, said Jose Ysea, a spokesman with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

• The survivors were taken to local hospitals for "various degrees" of injury, including hypothermia.
• The Coast Guard said the search would continue into the night.

What they're saying: Jeff Stephenson, a supervising agent with U.S. Border Patrol, said "every indication from our perspective was this was a smuggling vessel," per AP.

• He said authorities had yet to confirm the nationality of those on board.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.