US Coast Guard Calls Off Search for Missing Cutter Crewmember Off Mexico

 

On Saturday evening, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy suspended a multiday, multi-agency search for a crewmember who went missing from a National Security Cutter off the southwestern coast of Mexico.

The Coast Guard has identified the missing crew member as Seaman Bryan K. Lee, 23, from Rancho Cordova, California. He was reported missing last Tuesday at 0645 hours while the cutter USCGC Waesche was conducting a counternarcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific, about 300 nautical miles south of?Mexico. 

Waesche immediately transitioned to a search and rescue effort, aided by other assets from the Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy. They searched for Lee for nearly 190 hours, covering a vast area of more than 19,000 square nautical miles. 

"Our most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Seaman Lee," said Cmdr. David Stern, search and rescue mission coordinator for Coast Guard District Eleven. "Considering all pertinent factors and available information, we made the difficult decision to suspend the search. This case has been extraordinarily challenging, and the decision to suspend the search pending new information is not an easy choice."

Waesche and her embarked helicopter aircrew had considerable support. U.S. Customs and Border Protection dispatched two Dash-8 surveillance aircraft from Joint Interagency Task Force – South; the U.S. Air Force 39th Rescue Squadron sent a C-130 search aircraft; Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak in Alaska sent another C-130; and the Mexican Navy assigned an offshore patrol vessel and a maritime patrol aircraft to help. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has increased its presence in the southern trafficking zones over the past several weeks. In addition to normal rotations in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean, the Coast Guard has announced a "surge" of available assets to deploy on counter-drug and counter-migration missions, as directed by President Donald Trump. The president has ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to take "all appropriate and lawful action to deploy sufficient personnel along the southern border."