The Coast Guard continues to search for a missing guardsman who went overboard on Tuesday while aboard USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751) off the Pacific coast of Mexico, near the border with Guatemala.
The cutter was conducting routine counter-drug patrolling approximately 300 nautical miles south of Mexico when the crew discovered that a guardsman was unaccounted for, having been seen eight hours earlier, according to a Thursday Coast Guard news release.
The release did not specify when the rescue efforts began.
Waesche‘s crew and embarked helicopter are searching the area with help from U.S. and Mexican assets. These include C-130 aircraft from the Air Force’s 39th Rescue Squadron and Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak in Alaska, two Customs and Border Protection Dash-8 aircraft, a Mexican Navy offshore patrol vessel and Mexican Navy maritime patrol aircraft. Waesche also deployed its embarked drone to help with the rescue efforts.
“The search area and effort are vast, and the operation is being carefully coordinated to ensure maximum coverage and effectiveness,” reads the release.
The Coast Guard surged its assets in January, following President Donald Trump’s executive order about protecting the U.S.’s southern border. The service has conducted a number of flight operations in addition to maritime patrols since Trump took office on Jan. 20. The Coast Guard conducted drug and migrant interdiction missions under the Biden administration as well.
