Last of eight victims from Black’s Beach boat disaster in San Diego are identified
SAN DIEGO — Authorities on Wednesday released the names of the final two victims among the eight Mexican migrants who died last month when two human smuggling boats capsized off Black’s Beach.
The two were identified as Arturo Valerio Rueda, 33, and Angel Gomez Lopez, 29, both from the Mexican state of Puebla, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office and the Mexican Consulate in San Diego.
The six victims who were identified previously were Alma Rosa Figueroa Gorgonio, 17; Yecenia Lazcano Soriano, 22; Ana Jacqueline Figueroa Perez, 23; Guillermo Suarez Gonzalez, 23; Eloy Hernandez Baltazar, 48; and Paul Diaz Lopez, 50. Four of them were also from Puebla, one was from Mexico City and the other was from Jalisco.
Families of Mexican migrants who died in boat crossing attempt at Black’s Beach learned of the tragedy through anonymous phone calls, humanitarian groups and social media
Their deaths — all from drowning, according to the medical examiner — occurred around 11:30 p.m. on March 11. That’s when a Spanish-speaking woman called 911 and reported that she and other people on her boat had made it to shore, but a second boat had overturned.
Lifeguards and other emergency crews responding to the call found two capsized pangas and bodies strewn across the sand and floating in shallow water at the bottom of the bluffs south of the Torrey Pines Gliderport. They found no survivors, leading officials to believe some people fled before crews arrived. A search for other potential victims came up empty.
The Mexican government is covering the costs of returning the victims’ bodies to their hometowns, according to a statement from Consul General Carlos González Gutiérrez. He said the Black’s Beach incident should raise “awareness about the dangers our nationals face when crossing the border undocumented.”
Said González: “The loss of human life in these conditions is absolutely unacceptable. For no reason should deaths at the border be normalized.”
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