Two hospitalized after being found injured near possible smuggling vessel off Point Loma

Two people were taken to a hospital after being found injured near a possible smuggling vessel off Point Loma early April 4, federal officials said.

The incident began around 1 a.m. when the Kawasaki Jet Ski was seen about three miles off the Imperial Beach Pier, said Tekae Michael, a U.S. Border Patrol special-operations supervisor. She said a helicopter crew with Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations unit responded a short time later and saw the vessel heading north toward Point Loma.

Around 1:40 a.m., agents found the watercraft abandoned just south of the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant, Michael said. Agents found the two injured males near the Cabrillo National Monument about an hour later.

No information about their condition or identities was immediately released.

The Coast Guard was told a third person might have been on the vessel and was missing, according to Coast Guard representative Alex Gray. Starting around 3:30 a.m., crews on a Coast Guard cutter and Jayhawk helicopter searched the water for the third person, but no one was found. The search was called off around 6:30 a.m., Gray said.

Michael said she didn’t know anything about a search for a third person. The investigation of the incident is continuing.

— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Lyndsay Winkley contributed to this report.