Coast Guard Pulls 16 from Pacific After Boat Sinks 140 Miles Off Baja Coast; 11 Still Missing

Someone aboard a sinking vessel in the dark Pacific Ocean transmitted a mayday call just after 1 a.m. Friday. About two hours later, a Coast Guard rescue helicopter reached the scene roughly 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico — and found 16 people scattered in the water, clinging to each other and to debris, with no intact boat in sight.

People were holding onto each other, to debris, just treading and trying to stay above water before being rescued.— Lt. Santiago Tamburini, U.S. Coast Guard

The 16 survivors — all reported to be Mexican nationals, according to the Mexican consulate — were airlifted by helicopter to San Diego and transported to area hospitals. Two were in critical condition, one was being treated for a suspected shark bite, and others were treated for cold exposure, according to authorities. The search for at least 11 more people was continuing across roughly 950 square nautical miles as of the latest reports.

Survivors told rescuers that as many as 27 people had been on board when the vessel went down. Some of those pulled from the water were wearing life vests; others were not, according to the Coast Guard.

As long as we think it's viable, we will continue to search.— Capt. Rob Tucker, U.S. Coast Guard

The rescue operation drew assets from multiple commands. Personnel from Air Station Ventura, Air Station Sacramento and Coast Guard Cutter Active were among those the Coast Guard put into the field, Stars and Stripes reported. The U.S. Navy contributed USS Kingsville and a helicopter. The Mexican Navy launched a parallel search-and-rescue operation out of Ensenada, which sits about 80 miles south of San Diego by road.

It took the rescue crew — which included a rescue swimmer — about 90 minutes to pull all 16 people from the water once they reached the site, Lt. Tamburini said. According to hospital spokesperson Janice Collins, Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego admitted three survivors: one with a suspected shark bite and two who required treatment for cold exposure. At Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, three additional survivors were examined and subsequently released.

The boat went down in waters the Coast Guard described as a known route for smugglers transporting migrants to the United States, though it is also used by fishing and leisure vessels. The vessel's origin, destination and purpose remained unclear Friday, and no wreckage — only debris — was recovered. Weather conditions at the time of the mayday call were windy but not extreme: winds of about 10 knots and 5-foot waves, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Suk in San Diego. Water temperature was 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

Boats in that area can be for fishing, leisure, personal recreation. We just don't know what they were doing out there. We all know it's a suspected smuggling route.— Lt. Santiago Tamburini, U.S. Coast Guard

The sea is unforgiving— Lt. Santiago Tamburini, U.S. Coast Guard

Maritime crossings have grown more common as migrants seek alternatives to heavily guarded land borders. Small boats called pangas regularly leave Baja California at night, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles north. The passage has claimed lives repeatedly in recent years: a panga capsizing roughly 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border killed at least three people in May 2025, while eight died in 2023 after two boats neared a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one overturned in the surf, the Boston Globe reported.

The sinking occurred as Hurricane Trudy was battering Mexico's Pacific coast further south, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds to Michoacán, Colima and Jalisco — states already hit by Hurricane Simon the previous week. The National Hurricane Center warned of potentially life-threatening flooding and mudslides in those coastal regions. As of early Sunday, Trudy had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph as a Category 2 hurricane, centered about 135 miles west-southwest of Manzanillo. The storm was expected to move south of the Baja California Peninsula after Sunday evening. The rescue site off Ensenada is well north of Trudy's impact zone, and conditions there at the time of the sinking were described as fairly typical for the area.

Why it matters — Eleven people remain missing in open ocean after a vessel sank under unclear circumstances on a route increasingly used by migrants attempting dangerous sea crossings to the U.S.

Sources differ on Number of confirmed Mexican nationals among the rescued: All 16 rescued were Mexican nationals (bostonglobe.com) vs Two of those rescued were confirmed by the Coast Guard to be Mexican nationals (stripes.com)

Reported by cbsnews.com, stripes.com, nytimes.com, sandiegouniontribune.com, bostonglobe.com