SAN DIEGO: Sixteen people were rescued from the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California coast on Friday after the US Coast Guard responded to a mayday call reporting their boat was sinking. Another 11 people were believed missing.
The people rescued were Mexican nationals, according to the Mexican consulate. But the boat’s origin, destination and what it was doing were not clear.
It went down in an area frequented by smugglers transporting migrants to the US It’s also popular with fishing and leisure boats.
One survivor was being treated for a suspected shark bite and two were in critical condition, authorities said.
A rescue helicopter reached the site about two hours after someone on the boat transmitted a mayday call at about 1 a.m. to say it was sinking, said Coast Guard Lt. Santiago Tamburini. It took about 90 minutes for the crew, which included a rescue swimmer, to pull the 16 people from the water, Tamburini said.
“People were holding onto each other, to debris, just treading and trying to stay above water before being rescued,” he said.
The boat went down about 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of Ensenada, Mexico.
The search for more survivors across some 950 square nautical miles (3,200 square kilometers) was to continue overnight, officials said.
Survivors clung to debris, but the boat was gone
No vessel, only debris, was found and it was unclear what type of boat was involved, the Coast Guard said.
“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,” Tamburini said.
“The sea is unforgiving” in that area, he added, and it was unclear if the vessel got lost, had engine failure, was swept out to sea or meant to go that far.
Survivors said as many as 27 people had been on board, officials said. Some but not all of the people rescued were wearing life vests.
They rescued were flown by helicopter to San Diego and transported to hospitals. The Mexican consulate in San Diego said they were offered consular assistance.
Three were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, including the person with a suspected shark bite and two people treated for cold exposure, said hospital spokesperson Janice Collins. Three others were evaluated at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and later discharged, said Steve Carpowich, a Scripps Health spokesperson.
Two patients were in critical condition, said Matt Hoffman, a spokesperson for the city of San Diego. It was not clear if that included the suspected shark bite victim or the two people with cold exposure.
The search continues for 11 missing people
The Coast Guard and US Navy were searching the area with two helicopters, a fixed-wing plane, a cutter and a Navy combat ship.
The Mexican Navy also launched a search and rescue operation from Ensenada, which is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of San Diego by road.
“As long as we think it’s viable, we will continue to search,” said Coast Guard Capt. Rob Tucker.
Conditions on the water at 1 a.m. Friday appeared to be windy but fairly typical for the area, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Suk in San Diego. Winds out of the north and northwest measured about 10 knots (18.5 kilometers per hour) and waves measured 5 feet (1.5 meters) at a buoy north of Ensenada, he said.
“I wouldn’t want to be out there in a sea kayak,” Suk said. “For the vessels that usually operate out there, they’re usually built to handle things like that.”
The water temperature measured 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) — fairly warm for the Pacific — and the air was 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), Suk said.
Deadly smuggling accidents have struck these waters before
Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders. Small boats called pangas leave Baja at night and sometimes travel hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.
There have been several episodes where migrant vessels capsized en route to California in recent years.
In May of 2025, at least three people died when a panga flipped off the coast about 35 miles (56 km) north of the US-Mexico border. In 2023, eight people were killed in one of the deadliest maritime smuggling accidents off the US coast, when two boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one capsized in the surf.
A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off the coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.