SAN FELIPE, Mexico — A Port Angeles resident was a passenger aboard a 115-foot charter fishing boat that capsized and sank during a freak storm in Mexico’s Sea of Cortez early Sunday, the Mexican navy and U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.
But the identity and status of the Port Angeles resident was not available by Monday evening.
“We have no idea if he is among those rescued or missing,” Coast Guard Lt. Sean Groark said in San Diego.
The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the Mexican navy in the rescue of 19 U.S. tourists, all men, and 16 crew members Monday. All were wearing life jackets.
Seven passengers were still missing Monday night, and one was confirmed dead.
The dead passenger was not identified. In a statement late Monday, the Mexican navy listed the names of eight missing passengers, and said the fatality was probably among them. They were Don Lee, Russel Bautista, Mark Dorland, Leslie Yee, Brian Wong, Al Mein, Gene J. Leong and Shawn Chaddock.
Mexican navy Capt. Benjamin Pineda Gomez said he had no name or details about the man who died.
Navy, army and state officials reviewed their strategy as divers prepared to search the sunken wreckage of the 115-foot Erik for bodies, said Baja California State Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo Ortiz.
The boat was chartered by a private group based in the San Francisco Bay area for a July 2-7 fishing excursion in the Sea of Cortez, according to the Baja Sportfishing Inc. website.
The Sea of Cortez, which separates the Baja California peninsula from the Mexican mainland, is also known as the Gulf of California.
The Erik, built in Holland, has operated since 1989 out of San Felipe, Mexico, in northeastern Baja California about 120 miles south of the U.S. border.
The California secretary of state’s website said Baja Sportfishing’s license to operate in California was suspended. It does not provide a reason for the suspension or the date.
Most of the members of the group were described as being from Northern California. Family members said the men had organized the fishing trips for the last several years each Independence Day holiday.
Survivors described two “huge waves” hitting the boat, which was less than two miles from shore, at about 2 a.m. Sunday.
One of the passengers, Charles Gibson, a police officer with the Contra Costa Community College District in Martinez, Calif., said people on the Erik were awakened by other passengers and the crew as the boat began to sink.
Most “were in the water for over 16 hours,” said Gibson, who had gone on the fishing trip twice before.
“Eventually, [we] were rescued by local fishermen and the military,” Gibson said.
The crew of the Erik had not been able to broadcast a distress call. Commercial fishermen were the first to discover survivors almost 18 hours after the Erik sank and radioed for assistance.
“We hope that the information is getting to our families that we are here and that we survived,” Gibson said.
The Erik sank about 60 miles south of San Felipe in a remote area popular for sport fishing.
Those pulled from the water seemed to be in good shape, photos from the Mexican navy showed.
Michael Ng of Belmont, Calif., was rescued with another fisherman as they swam to shore, using a portable cooler as a float.
“I’m relieved I’m alive, but I’m scared for the people who haven’t been found yet,” Ng said.
“We were not very far from shore, so people were beached or stranded on some local island.”
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
