69 Illegal Immigrants Found on Boat Off Baja

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a vessel off the coast of Baja California and discovered 69 illegal immigrants who appeared to be of Asian descent, a spokesman said Wednesday.

“The Coast Guard is on scene with a vessel that has aliens on board that claim to be from the Far East,” said Petty Officer Glenn Gerber.

A Coast Guard helicopter spotted the vessel Tuesday, 100 miles south of San Diego off Ensenada, Mexico, authorities said.

“It looked kind of suspicious--kind of a rickety-looking vessel. It’s a large motor vessel,” said Lt. Lisa Blow.

Hours later, the boat was boarded by about 12 Coast Guard personnel, and they remained aboard Wednesday, she said.

In addition, several sailors from the Mexican navy boarded while others provided assistance in the waters near the boat, according to Capt. Victor Orozcan Santina, naval supervisor of the area near Ensenada.

Officials from the U.S. State Department were assisting in the investigation, said Petty Officer Jeff Murphy at Coast Guard headquarters in Alameda.

Blow said some of the personnel on board the 150-foot boat were in charge of taking care of “creature comforts” for what was a very “cramped” situation.

“But they look to be in pretty good shape, considering,” she said of the immigrants.

The group of immigrants included men, women and children, according to Murphy.

In July 1993 the Coast Guard intercepted more than 650 undocumented Chinese on three boats floating in the same international waters.

More than 40 smugglers were arrested and most of the Chinese were immediately repatriated to their homeland by airplane.