ONE PERSON HAS drowned and another six are still missing after a boat carrying tourists capsized off the coast of Mexico.
Local emergency services said the boat, which was carrying 44 people including 27 US citizens, was hit by an electrical storm early on Sunday morning. It had sailed on Saturday night from San Felipe on the Baja California peninsula, an area popular with anglers and watersports enthusiasts, according to Reuters.
The US Coast Guard today sent a helicopter to help search for the missing travellers, CNN reports. Many of the passengers were able to swim ashore, with some reports stating that all Americans have been accounted for. Sea conditions in the area where the 115ft boat, called the Erik, sank are understood to still be very rough.
US Coast Guard spokeswoman Pam Boehland told ABC News: “When the vessel sank it was close enough to shore that some people were able to swim to shore. Other people were picked up by good Samaritan vessels that were in the area. Others were rescued by the Mexican Navy.”
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