SAN DIEGO — The Coast Guard and good Samaritans rescued 15 people and continue to search for three more after a fishing vessel caught fire 28 miles south of Point Loma Saturday night.
The crew of the 42-foot fishing vessel Time Machine contacted Coast Guard Sector San Diego’s Joint Harbor Operations Center watchstanders around 9:35 p.m. to report seeing a nearby fishing boat on fire and multiple people in the water.
The Coast Guard diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Haddock, launched a Coast Guard Station San Diego 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew and dispatched a Sector San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew while Secretaría de Marina (SEMAR) also deployed two defender class boats to assist.
The crew aboard the motor vessel Time Machine pulled 15 people from the water, including two who needed urgent medical attention. The survivors aboard the fishing vessel Time Machine reported that three people were still missing.
The Coast Guard Sector San Diego Jayhawk crew hoisted the two survivors who needed urgent medical attention into the helicopter and transported them to Sector San Diego where they were met by emergency medical services personnel and taken to UC San Diego Health.
The remaining 13 survivors aboard the fishing vessel Time Machine were transferred to a SEMAR vessel and taken to Ensenada, Mexico.
SEMAR Rescue Coordination Center has assumed search mission coordinator.
A Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco Forward Operating Base Point Mugu MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and the Coast Guard Cutter Haddock crew are actively searching for the three additional people.
Navy helicopter crews from the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Stockdale assisted in the search.
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