60 miles South of San Felipe boat sinks many dead

jerry

jerry

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/american-tourist-dead-missing-mexican-fishing-boat-capsizes/story?id=13991646

A TOURIST boat carrying more than 40 tourists, many of them American, sank off the Mexican coast late Sunday local time.

The ship left the port of San Felipe on Saturday and got into difficulty during an electrical storm. It capsized yesterday, according to port officials and the navy.

El Mexicano newspaper reported that all but nine of 42 passengers on board were rescued by the local coast guards and the Mexican navy. The US Navy also took part in the rescue operation.

However, Reuters reported that 44 people were on board and that 23 people were missing. Five Mexicans and sixteen Americans were reportedly rescued.

The accident occurred off Punta Bufeo, near Puertecitos, 140km south of the northern city of San Felipe, on the Baja California peninsula.
 
jerry

jerry

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Looks like the crew left everyone to die while taking the lifeboat!


"The crew, consisting of 17 Mexicans, are safe because "we know made ​​it to the lifeboats" and got several small islands scattered in the area, according to Salvador Rene Rosado, director of state Civil Protection service in the Mexican city of Mexicali .
The wreck occurred between Punta Puertecitos buffet, about 100 km south of San Felipe, Rosado said.
The search for survivors, which sent helicopters joined the Coast Guard of the United States resumed the 08HOO (15HOO GMT) "
 
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papi chulo

Guest
The boat that went down was the "Erik." Sounds like a horrible incident. I went fishing on that boat back in 2004 on a 6 day trip out of San Felipe. The air conditioning was not working in most of the staterooms and the crew seemed disorganized. When we returned to San Felipe, we spoke with the boat owner, Gustavo Velez back at the dock. He seemed disinterested in our concerns. The next year we went on the Tony Reyes boat and it was night and day compared to the Erik. The Tony Reyes was just a better, well organized outfit.
 
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wishamako1

Guest
The Erick

I had the pleasure of meeting the crew of the Erick 4 years ago at Refujio, they were polite and friendly, its a shame anyone was lost in this accident, but to find fault back when you went fishing is something else:moon:
 
rockyptjoe

rockyptjoe

Guest
OK....I have question for all the fishermen on here....who have been out in the area where the boat capsized....

I used to do some sailing in the Atlantic, off Long Island (New York) in a 26 footer. Went thru a bunch of rough water. The boat that capsized was built for the North Sea use, which has some pretty bad weather and water conditions.

How does this type of boat capsize so quickly...according to the reports....after being hit by two waves????? Poor condition of the boat? The crew/captain asleep at the helm? Any comments?
 
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papi chulo

Guest
I have no idea how the boat sank and I am not blaming anyone. Most of the crew was polite and freindly,,,the operation in general was disorganized. This accident is horrible for the town of San Felipe and for anyone involved in the sport fishing industry.
 
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papi chulo

Guest
Wishamako.....sounds like you still have a chance to run into the crew of the Erik again at some point......the seven missing fishermen....maybe not so much....unless you have dive gear.
 
jerry

jerry

Guest
wishamako1 said:
I had the pleasure of meeting the crew of the Erick 4 years ago at Refujio, they were polite and friendly, its a shame anyone was lost in this accident, but to find fault back when you went fishing is something else:moon:
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"The crew, consisting of 17 Mexicans, are safe because "we know made ​​it to the lifeboats"

while the customers floated on ice chests!
 
Stuart

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
They said on the radio this morning that the 7 missing are Americans, but they still have hope of finding them because the water is warm and calm. I dunno, not so good in my opinion. This is very sad.

I'm inclined to agree with above - there have been many postings (not good) about the Erik over the years on the fishing boards. On the other hand, Tony Reyes boats always seem to get high marks.
 
rockyptjoe

rockyptjoe

Guest
Waking up in that situation, panic sets in, and if the crew were not much help......don't need to say much more....panic kills....

I heard an interview from the wife of one of the passengers who swam to shore....she said that he was a strong swimmer. How many of the others were good swimmers, or in any kind of shape to make it a couple of miles in rough water?
 
az-dan

az-dan

Guest
This is why it is so important to choose a boat and Captain that puts safety and risk above money. I wonder how many other boats cancelled and their customers were standing on the dock watching the Eric going out and cussing their Captain for cancelling?
 
rockyptjoe

rockyptjoe

Guest
IF...and that is an "if"...the port was closed, how was the boat permitted to leave?

I'm surprised that the Mexicans let the US Coast Guard assist in the search/rescue. I recall in the affair a couple of years ago where the boat capsized with that group (church group??), that the US offered the assistance of some military helicopters, and were turned down.
 
moore_rb

moore_rb

Stay Thirsty My Friends
rockyptjoe said:
IF...and that is an "if"...the port was closed, how was the boat permitted to leave?
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A "closed" port really only means that the Harbor Master has sent the danger flag up the pole and declared that unsafe seas are approaching; and they can mandate that all ships at berth be double or triple-roped, etc, but there is never a big chain strung across the entrance to the harbor that says "closed".

If a skipper orders his crew to untie and sets sail, then he is master of his vessel.
 
Stuart

Stuart

Aye carumba!!!
Staff member
The thing that kind of amazes me is that it was 14 hours before anyone on shore knew this has happened. I'd think that any ship doing commercial business with passengers like that would have an EPIRB device. I have no idea what the regs are in Mexico for passenger vessels, but you can bet they have them in the USA.

Not that an EPIRB would have changed much, just showed them where to find the bodies, I suppose. Might have gotten rescuers there much faster.
 
Roberto

Roberto

Guest
Stuart said:
The thing that kind of amazes me is that it was 14 hours before anyone on shore knew this has happened. I'd think that any ship doing commercial business with passengers like that would have an EPIRB device. I have no idea what the regs are in Mexico for passenger vessels, but you can bet they have them in the USA.

Not that an EPIRB would have changed much, just showed them where to find the bodies, I suppose. Might have gotten rescuers there much faster.
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That was my reaction also. A damned long time before anyone on shore knew there was a problem. You'd think someone was close enough to the radio for a quick "Mayday", maybe they did and were not heard. Wonder if there was even anyone in the wheelhouse at the time.

The other odd thing is that the ship was reported as being build for North Sea conditions. Anyone wanna bet it was not maintained or perhaps modified?

A real tragedy for sure. Anyone else remember the boat out of Penasco that exploded and burned loaded with US fisherfolk a couple of years back?
 
rockyptjoe

rockyptjoe

Guest
Stuart said:
The thing that kind of amazes me is that it was 14 hours before anyone on shore knew this has happened. I'd think that any ship doing commercial business with passengers like that would have an EPIRB device. I have no idea what the regs are in Mexico for passenger vessels, but you can bet they have them in the USA.

Not that an EPIRB would have changed much, just showed them where to find the bodies, I suppose. Might have gotten rescuers there much faster.
Click to expand...
This is a commercial operation. They don't have a radio on board to send out a mayday?
 
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