Update: 16 in Custody After Troubled Smuggling Boat Lands in Coronado

Updated 1:40 p.m. with details from the city and Sunset Park.

An allegedly distressed boat that the Border Patrol believes illegally crossed into local waters from Mexico landed in Coronado early Friday morning.

Sixteen people were taken into custody, 15 of them after coming ashore southwest of Naval Amphibious Base, according to a spokeswoman for the city of Coronado.

The group being held includes the captain of the vessel, who was found at sea on the boat. There were no injuries, according to the city, and no drugs were found. A search continues for three people. 

Nearing noon, Border Patrol officials continued to operate at Sunset Park outside North Island Naval Air Station and it appeared that some people who may have been associated with the boat were being detained there.

Agent Michael Jimenez said the boat was not damaged, leading authorities to believe that someone involved in the smuggling attempt may have made a fake emergency call to divert attention from the group's landing on the beach.

Coronado police received a call from a woman on the boat who said the panga was taking on water near the Silver Strand at 5:38 a.m.

Initially, rescuers had trouble locating the boat, according to the city, because phone pings were recorded off cell towers as far south as Loews Coronado Bay Resort and to the north at the Coronado Shores condominium complex.

Early reports that the boat may have capsized turned out to be false. 

The Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard and California Highway Patrol assisted in the search for the vessel and possible survivors, a Border Patrol communications officer said.

Jonathan Ortiz, a volunteer at the RV lot at Silver Strand State Beach, said he saw a lot of emergency activity around 6:30 a.m., with helicopters flying above the water and Coast Guard vessels visible about a mile offshore.

Coronado firefighters and ambulances also were waiting, in the lot just to the south of the RV area, Ortiz said.

“They hung out for an hour and left,” he said of the first responders. “I didn't see anybody that they brought in.”

City News Service contributed to this report.