SAN DIEGO — Several hours after a suspected smuggling boat capsized off the coast near Del Mar, killing three, the U.S. Coast Guard announced Monday night it was suspending its search for those reported missing.

Based on survivor accounts, officials believed 16 people had been aboard the panga before it overturned north of Torrey Pines State Beach around 6:30 a.m. Three bodies were found while four people were taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for respiratory failure. Two were detained, leaving seven believed missing.

Two of the missing are believed to be children from India, according to a tweet Tuesday morning from the Consulate General of India in San Francisco, which also said the children’s mother and father are undergoing treatment in a La Jolla hospital.

A crush of first responders had flooded the beach to assist and look for survivors in the heavy surf. That included lifeguards using personal watercraft and rescue boats, firefighters and several Coast Guard vessels, including a cutter and a 45-foot response boat. Two helicopters and a C-27 Spartan plane also searched from the air.

Around 11 p.m. Monday, Coast Guard officials announced they had suspended the effort after searching more than 520 square nautical miles without finding any survivors.

Officials on Monday said they didn’t know if anyone unaccounted for made it to shore or was still in the water.

The three people who died were male, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office. Two were Mexican nationals, the Mexican Consulate said. No further information, including names or ages, was released.

Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla officials said three females and one male were transported to the hospital’s emergency department and were being treated for respiratory failure. Two patients were in their 30s, one was a teenager and the fourth patient’s age was not immediately known.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives will be handling the death investigations.

According to the Border Patrol, there have been 287 maritime events with 951 apprehensions in the San Diego County area between Oct. 1 and mid-April.

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