Coast Guard Searches for 27 People in the Water West of Ensenada After Smuggling Boat Incident

SAN DIEGO, California. The US Coast Guard sent air and surface crews on Friday to search for 27 people reported in the water about 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, after an incident involving a human smuggling boat.

The Coast Guard Southwest office announced the operation in a breaking post on X on Friday, October 16, 2026. It said crews were responding to the reports, that 15 people had reportedly been rescued, and that search and rescue work was still going on. NBC 7 San Diego and the New York Post both reported the same location, the same total of 27 people in the water, and the same smuggling link.

What officials confirmed on Friday

Jose Ysea, a spokesperson for the City of San Diego, told NBC 7 San Diego that the vessel involved was a human smuggling boat. That confirmation is the clearest official account so far of why so many people were on the boat and why the case is being treated as a smuggling incident, not a regular boating accident.

NBC reported that the people who were pulled from the water were taken to local hospitals. The station said its crew was at the Coast Guard station on the Embarcadero in San Diego, where ambulances were staged with first responders while the search continued offshore.

The rescue count is still moving

The first public count came from the Coast Guard itself. Its X post said 15 people had reportedly been rescued. Ysea gave NBC a slightly higher figure, saying 16 people had been rescued. He also warned that more bodies may be in the water.

The gap between 15 and 16 fits a search that is still active. Counts in the first hours often change as aircraft and boats report in, and as rescued people reach shore and hospitals. What has not changed in either account is the total at risk: 27 people were reported in the water, and some of them were still unaccounted for when both outlets published.

What is still unknown

Officials have not said what put the people in the water. NBC reported that the cause was still unclear, and neither report named the type of boat, where the trip began, or where it was headed.

No names, ages, or nationalities of the people on board have been released. Officials have also not said how many of the rescued people were in serious condition, or how long the search will run.

For now, the operation is a race run from the air and from the sea, far offshore. The Coast Guard said more information will follow. This story will be updated as officials confirm the rescue total and the condition of the people who were found.