Mexico may call off rescue of 7 in boat capsizing

TIJUANA, Mexico — Mexican officials were considering calling off the search late Monday for seven U.S. tourists missing after their fishing boat capsized and turning their efforts to recovering bodies. One American has been confirmed dead.

Officials from the navy, army and state met late Monday, while divers were getting ready search the sunken wreckage for bodies, said State Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo Ortiz.

The 27 tourists and 16 crew members on a seven-day fishing trip were thrown into the Gulf of California early Sunday when a flash storm capsized the boat about 60 miles south of the port of San Felipe.

The 115-foot vessel sank completely.

Nineteen fishermen on an annual July 4 outing, most from Northern California, and all of the crew were rescued after at least 10 hours in the water clinging to coolers, rescue rings and life vests before three of them were rescued by another fishing boat as they tried to swim to shore.

One of those rescued, a cook from the sunken boat, notified the Mexican navy when he reached the port San Felipe in Baja California, Mexican navy Capt. Benjamin Pineda Gomez said Monday.

Escobedo had no name or details about the man who died.

“I’m relieved I’m alive, but I’m scared for the people who haven’t been found yet,” said tourist Michael Ng of Belmont, California, who was rescued with another fisherman as they swam to shore buoyed by a cooler.

But he said that he still has hope for the others more than 36 hours after the accident occurred at about 2:30 a.m. PDT Sunday 60 miles south of San Felipe.

“We were not very far from shore, so people were beached or stranded on some local islands,” Ng said.

Charles Gibson, a police officer with the Contra Costa Community College District, said people on the boat were awoken by other passengers and the crew as the boat began to sink.

Most “were in the water for over 16 hours,” Gibson said in a brief news conference in San Felipe. “Eventually, (we) were rescued by local fishermen and the military.”

“We hope that the information is getting to our families that we are here and that we survived,” Gibson said.

The tourists left Saturday afternoon for the week-long trip, said Mexican navy Capt. Benjamin Pineda Gomez, an Independence Day holiday tradition for many of them that started at least three years ago aboard the same boat, the Erik.

The boat was less than 2 miles from shore when it capsized. Pineda said two giant waves hit the boat, causing it to tip over.

Ng, who was part of a group of 12 friends on the trip, said he plans to stay in San Felipe a while longer.

“We will wait until we hear news about our friends,” Ng said.

Jan Ciabattari of Novato, California, said her husband, Richard, 62, managed to don a life vest before going into the water, but that he spent 15 hours in the ocean before he was rescued.

She spoke to him briefly by telephone and said he mentioned something about an electrical storm. He was invited on the annual trip at the last minute when someone else canceled.

Ciabaratti, like most men on the trip, drove to San Felipe about 220 miles south of the border city of Tijuana across from San Diego.

“They lost everything,” she said, including car keys. “He’s pretty shaken up.”

Those rescued were in good condition with a few scrapes. Photos released by the Mexican navy showed several sunburned fishermen in T-shirts and Bermudas waiting to get on a bus.

They were taken to a clinic for checkups, then to their hotel, Pineda said. One diabetic survivor was taken to a naval hospital in San Felipe, Escobedo said.

According to the Baja Sportsfishing Inc. website, the Erik has been on the Gulf of California, known in Mexico as the Sea of Cortez, since 1989. It was built in Holland and was equipped with stabilizers to handle the turbulent North Sea.

“We have been working with Mexican Navy authorities and the U.S. Coast Guard in the search and rescue,” Baja Sportsfishing Inc. said in a brief statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. “Right now our main concern is making sure that everyone is accounted for.”

The company didn’t respond to an interview request. It said in an announcement posted on its website Monday afternoon that all trips have been canceled.