At least 16 people have been rescued from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California in Mexico, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, which said it had responded to a report on Friday that more than two dozen people were in the water.
The Coast Guard sent air and surface crews approximately 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, after a distress call came in around 1 a.m. that a vessel was taking on water, Petty Officer Charlie Valor said. It was unclear how many boats were involved.
“By the time our assets arrived, the vessel or vessels had already sunk and it was just debris,” she said, including boat debris and personal belongings.
Coast Guard personnel from multiple bases in California responded to the search, including San Diego, Ventura and Sacramento, alongside a U.S. Navy helicopter. The San Diego Fire Department also assisted. A spokesman for the Fire Department said the 16 people who were rescued were taken to area hospitals.
Two of the 16 people were confirmed to be from Mexico, the Coast Guard said.
“This case highlights the extreme dangers of taking to the sea,” Capt. Robert Tucker, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Diego, said in a statement. “The vessel had a large number of people onboard and was following a route normally used in illegal maritime smuggling operations. Offshore conditions are unforgivable and can quickly result in death.”
The boat capsized in American waters, a spokesman for Mexico’s Navy said, adding that it did not participate in the U.S. Coast Guard’s rescue operation. However, Mexican naval personnel from a command based in Ensenada initiated their own search and rescue operation, the spokesman said, and sent boats on its end, in case the current drifts south into Mexican waters.
The boat’s destination and point of departure were not immediately known, but the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California and Southern California has become a popular route for migrant smugglers. In 2023, eight people died when their boat capsized in what the authorities described as a human smuggling operation gone awry. In two similar episodes last year, one in May and one in November, left a total of at least seven people dead.
In all three of those episodes, the passengers were riding in panga boats, open boats that can carry people or drugs.
Two Mexican citizens plead guilty earlier this year in connection with the four deaths in the May 2025 accident, in which prosecutors said the passengers paid smugglers about $13,5000 per person.
Simon Romero contributed reporting.
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