JULY 13, 2026 — A Mexican citizen was rescued at sea Tuesday by the California Air National Guard’s 129th Rescue Wing after suffering traumatic injuries aboard a fishing vessel.
U.S. Coast Guard District 11 received the distress call Monday from the Azteca 5 fishing vessel, 700 nautical miles from the coast of Cabo San Lucas, requesting emergency medical care.
The patient, a 47-year old man, sustained serious injuries aboard the ship earlier that day.
“It was going to take [Azteca 5] roughly 45 hours for the ship to get to Island Socorro on their own,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Taylor Franklin, a HC-130 pilot, who flew during this mission.
The wing was alerted of a possible mission by District 11, and the team began to execute, assessing ship coordinates and weather conditions.
The capabilities of the 129th made for the best option to answer the call, having conducted long range maritime search and rescue operations for over 50 years.
“The thing that we bring to the table is two things; our range with the C-130 and the medical capability of the [pararescuemen],” said Franklin.
The patient was transported from the Azteca 5 to its sister ship, Franz, and headed towards Socorro Island, a remote area of Mexico’s Revillagigedo Archipelago.
A HC-130J Combat King II aircraft assigned to the wing’s 130th Rescue Squadron departed Moffett Air National Guard Base early Tuesday morning with four Guardian Angel pararescuemen, or PJs, assigned to the 131st Rescue Squadron, after being activated by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.
The 129th’s HC-130 reached the Franz about 550 nautical miles from the coast of Cabo San Lucas.
A parabundle of medical supplies were dropped from the aircraft’s hatch into the open ocean, followed by four PJs to quickly reach the patient aboard the Franz.
The PJs treated the patient overnight, assessing vitals to confirm a diagnosis of his injuries, and to plan the next course of action to deliver him to a hospital on land as soon as possible.
A Mexican lifelight ambulance arrived at Socorro Island Wednesday morning, and transported the patient to a hospital in Maztán, Mexico, to receive higher medical care.
“It’s a lot of complex planning to make this happen,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. Art Eisberg, the search and rescue duty officer assigned to this mission.
The mission reiterated the importance of the State Partnership Program between the California National Guard and the Mexican National Defense Secretariat.
“Building a relationship with the officials [at Socorro Island] will help us in the future. They got to see how we operate and they were very gracious and grateful for our assistance,” said Eisberg. “That really strengthened our partnership.”
The program aims to build long-term mutually beneficial relationships by enhancing shared military expertise, border security, and disaster response collaboration.
“It’s going to make everyone that much better to have this experience for when they have to go deploy and do it in a combat environment,” said Eisberg.
This save marked the wing’s 1,190th save since 1977.
Story by Staff Sgt. Serena Smith
129th Rescue Wing