Coast Guard Searching Eastern Pacific for Missing Service Member
The Coast Guard is searching for a missing member of the crew of USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751) off the Pacific coast of Mexico near the border of Guatemala, USNI News learned.
The unidentified Coast Guardsman was initially reported missing while the Legend-class National Security Cutter was operating off the coast of Mexico.
“The Coast Guard is actively searching for a Coast Guard member that has been reported unaccounted for aboard the CGC Waesche while operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean,” a service spokesperson told USNI News in a Wednesday statement.
“Waesche, attached helicopter and [small unmanned aircraft systems] are currently conducting search patterns in the area. Additional Coast Guard and interagency search assets are being employed in this effort as well.”
The 4,700-ton cutter embarks with an MH-65E Dolphin helicopter and a small fixed-wing surveillance drone.
The statement did not include when the service member was discovered missing. A follow-up message and calls to the Coast Guard from USNI News asking about details about the timing of the search were not immediately returned.
As of Wednesday evening, Waesche was off the coast of Mexico near the border of Guatemala, according to its shipboard Automatic Identification System.
The Alameda-based cutter had recently made a port call to Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, departing on Jan. 29. The cutter was last in the U.S. on Dec. 19, after departing San Diego, according to AIS data. The National Security Cutter USCGC Stone (WMSL-758) is also operating in the region.
Waesche returned from an extended 120-day patrol in the Pacific last year.
Last month, the Coast Guard announced a surge of forces following President Donald Trump’s executive order to protect U.S. borders.
“Per the President’s Executive Orders, I have directed my operational commanders to immediately surge assets—cutters, aircraft, boats and deployable specialized forces—to increase Coast Guard presence and focus,” reads a statement from Acting Coast Guard commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday.
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