3 missing after fishing vessel catches fire south of San Diego
Fifteen other people are rescued from the water, including two who are injured.
SAN DIEGO — Three people were missing and 15 others were pulled from the water Saturday night after a Mexican fishing vessel caught fire 28 miles south of Point Loma in Mexican waters, Coast Guard officials said.
The crew of the Time Machine, a 42-foot fishing charter out of Harbor Island in San Diego, radioed the Coast Guard about 9:35 p.m. Saturday to report seeing a nearby fishing vessel on fire and several people in the water, Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Patrick Kelley said.
The crew pulled more than a dozen people from the ocean, including two who needed urgent medical attention, Kelley said.
Survivors told authorities that three people who had been on the boat were missing.
The name of the vessel, described as a 25- to 30-foot fishing boat, was not released.
The Coast Guard sent the cutter Haddock and a San Diego-based MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to assist in the rescue while the Mexican navy deployed two defender class boats.
Later, two Navy helicopters and a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew also helped.
Two injured people were hoisted from the charter boat onto the helicopter and flown to San Diego, where they were transported to a hospital for treatment. Their condition was not released.
It was unclear whether the fishing boat sank.
The last time the helicopter pilot saw the boat, it was still burning, Kelley said.
The remaining 13 survivors taken aboard the Time Machine were transferred to a Mexican Navy vessel and taken to Enseñada, he said.