The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Waesche steams through the South China Sea on July 16, 2024. (Elijah Murphy/U.S. Coast Guard)
The U.S. Coast Guard, with assistance from the Air Force, the Department of Homeland Security, and Mexican authorities, is searching the Eastern Pacific Ocean for a missing crew member from the cutter Waesche, the service announced Friday.
The unidentified crew member was discovered missing Tuesday morning while the Waesche was approximately 345 miles south of Mexico, according to a news release from Coast Guard Pacific Area.
The crew member was last seen about eight hours earlier, and the circumstances of their disappearance remain under investigation, the release said.
Once the cutter confirmed the crew member was missing, it immediately shifted course from its counter-drug patrol and began a “comprehensive search effort” with support from U.S. and Mexican agencies.
In addition to the Waesche, its attached helicopter and an unmanned drone, the search effort includes two Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 aircraft from Joint Interagency Task Force–South, along with C-130s from the Air Force’s 39th Rescue Squadron and Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska.
Mexico’s navy is assisting with an offshore patrol vessel and a maritime patrol aircraft, according to the Coast Guard.
“The search area and effort are vast, and the operation is being carefully coordinated to ensure maximum coverage and effectiveness,” the Coast Guard said in its release.
No additional details were immediately available, Coast Guard Pacific Area spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Jeannie Shaye told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.
