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15 rescued from boat fire off Baja California coast, 3 missing

The Mexican Navy has taken over the search for three missing people after a fishing boat went up in flames over the weekend. News 8 spoke to one of the fishermen who helped pull 15 people out of th...

Content Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of injuries sustained in the fire.

SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — The Mexican Navy has taken over the search for three missing people after a fishing boat went up in flames over the weekend. News 8 spoke to one of the fishermen who helped pull 15 people out of the water off the coast of Baja California; two remained in critical condition as of Monday.

Cell phone video shot Saturday night shows the scene after the Mexican fishing boat erupted into flames.

It happened about 19 miles off the coast of La Salina, a town nearly 30 miles south of Point Loma.

“There's flames about 30 feet up in the air, big black smoke,” said 19-year-old Reeve Koester.

Koester, his dad and some friends were fishing aboard the boat The Time Machine when they spotted the fire about four miles away. It took about 30 minutes to get to it. Koester then put on his wetsuit

"I heard yelling - it was a woman, she was on fire; and I could hear her,” he said. “I didn't think, I didn't hesitate, I jumped in the water.

“First thing she did was she grabbed my hair, tried to push me under the water. My dad told me to expect that they'll try and drown you ‘cause they're scared.”

Koester says he calmed her down, got her safely to their boat and went back for the others.

"I went ahead and grabbed onto [a man], my hand sunk into him a little bit,” said Koester. “He was burned really bad.”

The Coast Guard airlifted the two most critical patients who were placed in a basket and hoisted up to a helicopter.

A total of 15 people were rescued and the Mexican Navy took them back to Mexico.

Three people remained missing as of Monday

Koester said his heart goes out to their families.

And as scary as this was, Koester said, "It's tough to cope with, but when somebody's life is in danger and you have a chance to save them you’re gonna do it, you know?”

He adds, “I would do it all over again if I could.”

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