Survivors of a capsized boat off the California coast fought off sharks in open water before their early-morning rescue, with at least one person suffering a suspected shark bite and two others left in critical condition.
The vessel went down about 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, after a distress call came in from another boat around 1 a.m. On Friday. Sixteen of the 27 people on board were eventually pulled from the water, while the fate of the remaining 11 was not immediately clear from official statements.
“Sixteen people have been rescued and transported to Coast Guard Sector San Diego, where emergency medical services personnel transferred them to local hospitals for further medical evaluation,” the United States Coast Guard said in a Friday statement. “Two of the sixteen individuals rescued were confirmed to be Mexican nationals.”
The survivors had endured hours in treacherous offshore conditions before help arrived. They “were holding onto each other, to debris, just treading and trying to stay above water before being rescued,” according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s account of the incident.
The injuries sustained by multiple survivors were consistent with shark bites, officials indicated. At least one person was receiving treatment specifically for a suspected shark attack, while two others remained in critical condition at area hospitals following their transfer by emergency medical personnel.
Captain Robert Tucker, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Diego, tied the capsizing directly to human smuggling operations that have plagued the Southern California coastline. “The vessel had a large number of people onboard and was following a route normally used in illegal maritime smuggling operations,” he said. “Offshore conditions are unforgivable and can quickly result in death.”
A San Diego City spokesperson separately confirmed San Diego that a human smuggling boat was involved in the incident.
The Coast Guard’s assessment of the route and vessel configuration matched patterns seen in repeated maritime smuggling attempts along the coast. Federal agents had intercepted a vessel carrying 14 suspected illegal migrants from Mexico off Newport Harbor on October 3, according to prior operations. In early August, another boat carrying 21 people was caught attempting to enter Southern California, an incident that left a 56-year-old man unresponsive; he later died.
The Friday rescue highlighted both the persistent dangers of offshore smuggling routes and the lethal risks posed by open-ocean conditions. The shark encounters added a rare and gruesome dimension to what has become a recurring crisis along the maritime border.
The Coast Guard did not release additional details about the search for those not among the 16 rescued, nor did officials specify how long survivors had been in the water before the distress call was answered.
