Eleven people remained missing on Sunday after a boat carrying 27 people capsized off the coast of Baja California, and several of the survivors pulled from the Pacific suffered injuries consistent with shark bites, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Sixteen people were rescued in a sprawling response that drew in Coast Guard air and sea crews, the U.S. Navy, and the Mexican Navy.
A 1 A.M. Distress Call
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector San Diego received a radio distress call at about 1 a.m. local time on Friday, Oct. 16, reporting a vessel taking on water roughly 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, according to the Coast Guard's Southwest District. Reports reaching the agency indicated the boat, which had departed from Mexico, may have had 27 people aboard.
The Coast Guard answered with crews from Air Station Ventura and Air Station Sacramento, along with the Coast Guard Cutter Active, which was dispatched to the area. The USS Kingsville and a Navy helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 joined the response as well, and the search continued with support from the Mexican Navy. One rescue helicopter reached the scene roughly two hours after the distress call went out.
Sixteen Pulled From the Water
Of the 27 people believed to have been aboard, 16 were pulled from the water alive. Coast Guard personnel provided what the agency described as "lifesaving first aid" during the long transport toward San Diego, where all 16 were handed over to awaiting emergency medical personnel and taken to local hospitals for evaluation, according to a Coast Guard statement shared with USA TODAY.
Three of the people rescued "sustained injuries consistent with shark bites" after the capsizing, the Coast Guard said. The Associated Press described some of the injuries as severe. A Coast Guard officer, Lt. Santiago Tamburini, said the rescue itself took about 90 minutes, describing survivors "holding onto each other, to debris, just treading and trying to stay above water before being rescued," according to People magazine, which cited AP and CBC reporting.
At Scripps Mercy Hospital in San Diego, three of the survivors were treated — one for a suspected shark bite and two for cold exposure, hospital spokesperson Janice Collins told ABC7 and Yahoo News. Two survivors were reported in critical condition, according to the CBC. The Mexican consulate in San Diego confirmed that all of those rescued were Mexican nationals, the AP reported. As of Sunday, the Coast Guard said it had no updated information on the survivors' medical conditions.
The Search for the Missing Continues
As of Sunday, Oct. 18, no additional people had been found, the Coast Guard said, and search-and-rescue efforts were ongoing. The Coast Guard said it planned to add another helicopter to the operation as crews kept scouring the waters off Baja California.
Coast Guard spokesperson Petty Officer Charlie Valor said the response was launched simply because the service was in a position to act: "We were able to help, and that's why we launched our assets." Coast Guard vessels and aircraft searched alongside Navy crews in waters well beyond the U.S. maritime boundary, a measure of how seriously the agency treats a distress call in its area of responsibility.
A Dangerous Corridor
The capsizing did not happen in U.S. waters. The Coast Guard said the vessel went down in an area often used by smugglers — a corridor along which migrants are transported from Mexico toward the United States by sea — though the same waters are also frequented by fishing and leisure boats. The origin of the vessel and its destination were not immediately known, according to the CBC.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is now interviewing the survivors, the Coast Guard said. Federal investigators will be trying to establish exactly who was aboard the vessel, how many people were truly on it when it went down, and what led to the capsizing — questions that remain unanswered as the search goes on.
What This Means
The incident is a stark reminder of how quickly a crossing in the waters off Baja California can turn deadly, even for a vessel carrying fewer than 30 people. It also shows how far American rescue assets reach when a distress call comes in: Coast Guard Sector San Diego coordinated a response involving two air stations, a cutter, a Navy combat ship, and a Navy helicopter, with the Mexican Navy working alongside.
For the families of the 11 still missing, the next hours are everything. Search crews say that with survivors holding onto debris for hours before the first helicopter arrived, time in the water is the decisive factor — and three survivors were already fighting injuries consistent with shark bites when rescuers reached them.
What Happens Next
The search is expected to continue while conditions allow, and the Coast Guard has not yet said when it would scale back. In San Diego, hospitals are treating the survivors as federal investigators interview them about the voyage.
Beyond the immediate rescue, the incident is likely to renew scrutiny of the maritime smuggling corridor off Baja California, where overcrowded vessels make the same dangerous trip as part of the longer journey toward the U.S. border. Until investigators release more, the fundamental question — what put 27 people on that boat in the middle of the Pacific on a Friday night — remains open.
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