SHELTER ISLAND - Eight people were found clinging to life Friday after their boat capsized off the coast of Tijuana.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection tell San Diego 6 that seven men and a pregnant woman were rescued by other boaters who were transporting a yacht from Norfolk, Virginia through the Panama Canal. They spotted the people in distress around 3 o'clock Friday afternoon.
The rescuers, two British and one American, say one of them noticed people waving through their binoculars. By the time they reached the trouble boat, it was almost underwater.
"The boat itself was turned over. It was almost sunk. The boat was underwater," said Steve Dewhurst, one of the rescuers. "Four of them were sitting on it. Others were holding onto what was floating."
The rescuers say if they hadn't found them before sunset, these people would have died in the cold water.
The people rescued said their boat took off from Guerrero Negro, Mexico on Wednesday and they had no intentions of crossing over to the United States. They say they were just fishing.
Five of the men went to the hospital suffering from hypothermia. Federal officials are not sure if they were trying to come here illegally.
