Mexico Blocks U.S. Search for 2 Found Dead Off Baja

The U.S. Coast Guard was denied clearance by the Mexican government to conduct a search for two people, believed to be Americans, who were missing off the Baja California coast Saturday, and Mexican vessels later retrieved two bodies at sea, the Coast Guard reported Sunday.

The Coast Guard received a report from San Diego’s Life Flight air ambulance service that two Americans were missing about 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Lt. John Ochs said.

Life Flight had received a call from a Mexican, who apparently had responded to a distress call from an American on the beach at Punta China, about 20 miles south of Ensenada, Life Flight spokesman Mike McClain said.

The Coast Guard in Long Beach sent a Falcon jet out of San Diego and when the pilot verified the report, the jet entered Mexican airspace and sought clearance to begin a search, Ochs said. A Coast Guard helicopter arrived on the scene at 2:08 p.m. and the jet had departed because it was low on fuel. A minute later, the Mexican government notified the Coast Guard that the clearance request had been denied.

Mexican officials said the Mexican navy would respond with two vessels.

The helicopter left Punta China and the Mexicans reportedly arrived there about 3 1/2 hours later and recovered two bodies.

The identities and nationalities of the victims were not known.

The Mexican vessels reportedly were out of Ensenada.

Lt. Debra Harbaugh, a Coast Guard public affairs officer, said there is an international agreement under which Coast Guard craft may enter another country’s airspace and request clearance at the same time.

She could not recall a similar rejection.

“I’ve been here three years and it’s never happened before,” Harbaugh said.

The Coast Guard air crews were unable to locate the two people while they were at the scene. If they had, the helicopter would have attempted a rescue, she said.