By Chad Love

--Chad Love

U.S. and Mexican authorities are still searching for survivors after a chartered fishing boat carrying 44 passengers and crew capsized after being caught in a storm off the coast of Mexico.
 
From this story on ABC News:
 The U.S. Coast Guard and Mexican Navy are scouring the Sea of Cortez by boat and helicopter in a continuing effort to locate the seven U.S. tourists still missing after the sinking of a charter boat off the coast of Mexico Sunday. One U.S. tourist died. The Coast Guard will be using a larger aircraft in its search today that is capable of covering greater distances, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Pamela Boehland said. The Coast Guard expects to be up in the air over the Sea of Cortez around 10:30 a.m. PT. The Mexican Navy is expected to deploy the same two helicopters it has been using.

Seven Americans are still missing, according to Mexican officials. The identity of the dead man has yet to be released. The boat, carrying a total of 44 passengers and crew, capsized when it was hit by two giant waves, according to Capt. Benjamin Pineda Gomez of the Mexican Navy. Twenty-seven Americans and 16 crew members were on board the 115-foot-catamaran, which was called the Erik and was operated by the tourism company Baja Fishing. The vessel was supposed to take the group and crew on a week-long vacation -- an annual Fourth of July outing for a group of friends from Northern California -- but it was caught in a thunderstorm and capsized around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, about 60 miles south of San Felipe, in the Mexican state of Baja California.

Comments (2)

from PigHunter wrote 1 year 49 weeks ago

10 years ago I did a couple tanks of SCUBA diving in the Sea of Cortez. The guide's V bottom, open fiberglass boat had a thumb-sized hole near the bow that poured in water every time we entered a wave. I pointed out the hole and all I got was "No problem Señor." There was about 6 inches of water along in the bottom of the boat when we returned to change tanks for the second dive. Again it was "No problem Señor." Apparently a lot of bailing the occured because the boat had less water in it when we surfaced the last time of the day.

From what I've seen in Mexico, corners are cut when it comes to safety.

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from shane wrote 1 year 49 weeks ago

Well, the bright side is that we don't have a drug runner shooting on our hands again.

Good luck and God's Speed to the missing and their rescuers.

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from PigHunter wrote 1 year 49 weeks ago

10 years ago I did a couple tanks of SCUBA diving in the Sea of Cortez. The guide's V bottom, open fiberglass boat had a thumb-sized hole near the bow that poured in water every time we entered a wave. I pointed out the hole and all I got was "No problem Señor." There was about 6 inches of water along in the bottom of the boat when we returned to change tanks for the second dive. Again it was "No problem Señor." Apparently a lot of bailing the occured because the boat had less water in it when we surfaced the last time of the day.

From what I've seen in Mexico, corners are cut when it comes to safety.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from shane wrote 1 year 49 weeks ago

Well, the bright side is that we don't have a drug runner shooting on our hands again.

Good luck and God's Speed to the missing and their rescuers.

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.