Coast Guard rescues 16 from the Pacific off Baja California as 11 remain missing after a boat sinks

Sixteen people were pulled alive from the Pacific Ocean early Friday after a boat went down far off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Rescuers were still looking for as many as 11 others believed to be missing as the search stretched through the day.

The U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego said a mayday call came in at about 1 a.m. Friday from someone aboard a vessel who reported it was sinking. The spot was roughly 140 miles west of the Mexican port city of Ensenada.

No boat in sight

By the time crews got there the boat itself was gone. Only debris was left on the surface along with some floating seats that investigators hope will help them identify what kind of vessel it was. Coast Guard Lt. Santiago Tamburini said survivors were clinging to one another and to wreckage while treading water to keep their heads up.

One of the survivors told rescuers that 27 people had been on board, Petty Officer Chris Sappey said. The Coast Guard cautioned that it has not confirmed a final count. At least two of the people rescued are Mexican nationals, the agency said.

Survivors flown to San Diego

Helicopters carried the survivors to San Diego, where 13 ambulances were waiting at the Coast Guard station to rush them to area hospitals. Two people were listed in critical condition. Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego took in three patients: one with what appeared to be a shark bite and two suffering from cold exposure.

A known smuggling route

Officials have not said why the boat was so far from shore. Tamburini noted that fishing boats and pleasure craft use those waters but said everyone knows the area is a suspected smuggling route. Investigators do not yet know whether the vessel got lost, broke down, drifted off course or was meant to go that far. A San Diego city spokesperson first said early information pointed to human smuggling but the city later said it had nothing to back that up. The Coast Guard said the circumstances remain under investigation.

Weather did not look unusual for the area. A National Weather Service meteorologist in San Diego said winds were blowing about 10 knots from the north and northwest with waves near 5 feet at a buoy north of Ensenada. The water was close to 68 degrees and the air was around 70.

Search goes on

Two Coast Guard helicopters, including one from Ventura, joined a fixed-wing plane from Sacramento, a Coast Guard cutter and a Navy combat ship in combing the area. The Mexican Navy in Ensenada launched its own search and rescue mission.

Smugglers have increasingly sent migrants north by sea in small open boats called pangas to get around tightly guarded land crossings. Those trips often begin in the middle of the night and can run hundreds of miles. In 2023 eight people died off a San Diego beach when one of two boats overturned in heavy surf and fog. In May 2025 at least three people were killed when a panga flipped about 35 miles north of the border.