Eight family members rescued after boat crashes into sandbar
Four members of a family out for a Christmas holiday cruise in a new 30-foot pleasure craft were injured Saturday when the boat crashed into a sandbar in San Diego Bay off National City near a spot known as Gunpowder Point, officials said.
None of the injuries were life-threatening, but three members of the family of eight were taken to a hospital with facial, shoulder and back injuries, said Lt. Dominick Boccia of the San Diego Harbor Police.
The accident occurred about 3:10 p.m. when the boat veered out of the channel and struck the sandbar, he said.
Members of the Harbor Police dive team had to swim to the boat, Boccia said.
“We couldn’t get next to the vessel, which was about 50 yards away,” he said. Each person on the stranded boat was placed on a board by the divers and then taken to the rescue boat.
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