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 U.S. 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.
Strapped into a harness, Josh Law was lowered from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter into the rough Pacific Ocean in the pitch black night, far off the Mexican coast.
The force of the helicopter blades pummeled the water, whipping up spray and turbulence. The Coast Guard rescue swimmer couldn’t hear anything over the noise or see anything in the darkness. Waves of 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) hit him.
All he could do was follow the searchlight from the helicopter with the hope it would lead him to the more than two dozen people flung into the cold waters some 140 miles (225 kilometers) off the coast of Mexico’s Baja peninsula. He would personally rescue 16 of them.
“I was experiencing exhaustion at that point,” Law, 24, told The Associated Press in his first interview since the rescue. “We had very little sleep. But what I was experiencing was nothing compared to what they were at that point … I just had to keep that in mind.”
Hero straight up.
Where was the Mexican Coast Guard?
ReplyDeleteHope they get sent back to Mexico with all due speed.
ReplyDeleteWere they just fishing or were they actually running drugs?
ReplyDelete