Authorities have identified human remains found last week at Torrey Pines State Beach as those of a 10-year-old girl who went missing following a boat accident that killed three other people, including her brother, during an alleged maritime human-smuggling run off the coast of San Diego County.
DNA testing determined that the body part was that of Indian national Mahi Patel, who was traveling in the small vessel with her parents, older sibling and about 15 other suspected undocumented immigrants when it capsized west of Del Mar on the morning of May 5, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.
Emergency crews responding to the accident found Mahi's 14-year-old brother, Prince, dead on the beach along with Mexican citizens Marcos Lozada- Juarez, 18, and Gorgonio Placido-Diaz, 55.
Following eight-plus hours of searching the ocean and coastline for Mahi and any other possible survivors, authorities suspended the effort, with the girl still at large and presumed dead.
Five of the people who had been aboard the boat were arrested and face federal human smuggling-related charges in connection with the deadly ocean voyage.
The medical examiner did not provide details about the body part discovered along the ocean shoreline on May 21, but CBS 8 reported that it was one of the missing girl's feet.
A ruling on the child's cause of death remains pending. The other three victims of the accident drowned, according to the county agency.
