LOS ANGELES (AP) — At least 16 people seen floating in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico’s Baja California coast were rescued before dawn Friday, and authorities were searching for several others in an area frequented by smugglers' boats transporting migrants to the U.S.
Those rescued were being taken to San Diego hospitals. One person was being treated for a suspected shark bite.
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Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Traffic passes through the front gate at Coast Guard Station San Diego, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
The Coast Guard responded to a report of a vessel in distress at around 1 a.m., authorities said.
People were found floating in the water about 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of Ensenada, said Petty Officer Chris Sappey. Several smuggling boats have capsized over the years in fatal accidents in the area.
“There was no sight of a vessel in the water, just straight people in the water,” Sappey said.
One person rescued said as many as 27 people had been on board a boat, Sappey said. It was unclear how the people ended up in the water, and Sappey had no further details on what they were doing.
Three of the people rescued were taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego, including the person with a suspected shark bite and two people treated for cold exposure, said hospital spokesperson Janice Collins. Messages seeking information were left for San Diego’s Fire-Rescue Department.
The Coast Guard and U.S. Navy were assisting Mexican authorities in the search with two helicopters, a fixed-wing plane and a cutter, Sappey said.
Conditions on the water at 1 a.m. Friday appeared to be windy but fairly typical for the area, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Suk in San Diego. Winds out of the north and northwest measured about 10 knots (18.5 kilometers per hour) and waves measured 5 feet (1.5 meters) at the closest buoy, he said.
“I wouldn’t want to be out there in a sea kayak,” Suk said. “For the vessels that usually operate out there, they’re usually built to handle things like that.”
The water temperature measured 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) -- fairly warm for the Pacific -- and the air was 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius), Suk said.
Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders. Small boats called pangas leave Baja in the dead of night and sometimes travel hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.
There have been several incidents in recent years of migrant vessels capsizing en route to California.
In May of 2025, at least three people died when a panga flipped off the coast about 35 miles (56 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2023, eight people were killed in one of the deadliest maritime smuggling accidents off the U.S. coast, when two boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one capsized in the surf.
A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off the coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Traffic passes through the front gate at Coast Guard Station San Diego, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Coast Guardsmen work on a helicopter at Coast Guard Station San Diego on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks on nine regions of Ukraine knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of households and wounded at least 15 people, officials said Friday, as a new report showed that civilian casualties from Russia’s invasion have climbed steeply.
The latest aerial strikes on civilian targets came amid mounting fears that a sharp deterioration in relations between Ukraine and the United States this week could leave Ukraine further exposed to Russia’s escalating assaults with winter approaching.
Meanwhile, Russia’s military chief reported to President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the military has allocated the necessary assets to press its aerial campaign against Ukraine’s energy system.
Russia’s heavy bombardment of the power grid before cold weather arrives has been an annual feature of the war, aiming to wear down Ukraine’s appetite for the fight by denying civilians heat and running water. Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is stockpiling ballistic missiles for more attacks in the coming months.
Ukraine on Thursday abandoned a brief truce on energy-related targets that it said Moscow didn't heed despite U.S. President Donald Trump's demand for a ceasefire. The Kremlin said terms of an energy truce had not been set.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday attended a summit of European Union leaders who share his concerns about Russian aggression and Moscow’s wider plans on the continent. The leaders in Brussels applauded Zelenskyy when he entered the meeting room, vowed to maintain support for Ukraine and urged the U.S. to put pressure on Putin.
Uncertainty gripped Ukraine and Europe after Zelenskyy and Trump made cutting public remarks about each other. On Thursday, Zelenskyy said that he felt betrayed by the American president, and Trump openly declared his dislike of the Ukrainian leader, saying in an interview with Newsmax that “Zelenskyy is not a good guy for us to deal with.”
Arriving at the EU summit in Belgium, Zelenskyy thanked the 27-nation bloc for its support from what he said were “real leaders.”
“We want to end this war as (quickly) as possible,” Zelenskyy told reporters in English. “We don’t see now signals from (the) Russian side that they are ready for this, to end this war. That’s why we have to prepare for the winter.”
The tension between Trump and Zelenskyy raised the specter of further reductions in U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Ukraine is desperately short of the U.S.-made Patriot missiles it needs to protect against Russia’s devastating ballistic missile attacks, despite pleas from Zelenskyy for Washington to send more. He said in Brussels that small numbers of Patriot interceptors have reached Ukraine in recent months, either bought for Kyiv from the U.S. by European countries or provided by other countries around the world from their own stocks.
Zelenskyy complained about a breakdown in Western intelligence sharing and sudden speed restrictions on the use of Starshield, the military-grade version of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service that is the backbone of Ukraine’s drone operations and military communications.
The Starshield limits that slowed Ukrainian drone interceptors to 70 kph (43 mph) were “a dangerous and unpleasant surprise,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels. But the higher speeds needed to stop jet-powered Russian drones moving at more than 400 kph (250 mph) are being restored, he said.
“Have they returned to previous speed limits? No. But is it coming back? Yes,” he told a news conference.
Trump told reporters Friday that he did not order restrictions on the system. He also doubted that the disruption came from Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX.
“Well, I don’t know if it was anybody, but it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” Trump said outside the White House before leaving for Georgia. “And from what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been.”
Zelenskyy also slammed Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, which happened despite an international effort to sanction Russia and diplomatically isolate Putin over Moscow's invasion. Trump promised to swiftly end the war, but Ukrainian officials have complained that he's trying to bulldoze Zelenskyy into surrendering land to Russia.
“There are so many people with good hearts in America who sincerely want evil to lose and Ukraine to stand strong,” Zelenskyy said in a speech to the EU summit. “And at the end of the day, the American people will have their say.”
The EU is working to persuade Washington to stick with Ukraine, said Kaja Kallas, the bloc’s foreign policy chief.
“We are trying to convince also our American partners that if we want to end this war, then we have to squeeze the aggressor,” Kallas said. “With our American allies it’s very difficult at the moment.”
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, said there's “a lot of concern around Europe in terms of what’s happening in Ukraine right now.”
Zelenskyy told EU leaders that the war will cost Ukraine 155 billion euros ($174 billion) next year and that his country will need at least 70 billion euros ($79 billion) from Europe.
Speaking Friday during a visit to military headquarters overseeing operations in Ukraine, Putin hailed Moscow’s gains, emphasizing that capturing the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region remains a priority.
He also instructed the military to press on with its aerial campaign.
Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, reported that the military has launched a series of strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities and has the means to knock them out. He also said attacks on Ukrainian bridges, railways and data centers will continue.
Russia is blitzing not just Ukraine's power grid but also apartment buildings, public transportation, cargo ships, data centers and grocery stores.
Ukrainian civilians are paying a high price for the escalating Russian attacks, the United Nations human rights office in Kyiv said in a monthly report published Friday.
At least 328 civilians were killed and 2,105 wounded last month, a total that is 85% higher than in September last year, the report said, noting that intensifying Russian attacks in October already have killed dozens of civilians, including children.
“The first two weeks of October were among the deadliest periods for civilians in years,” said Danielle Bell, the head of the U.N. office.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for the EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a media conference at the EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, walks behind EU leaders as he arrives for a round table meeting at the EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, left, greets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, during a round table meeting at the EU summit in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
From left, European Council President Antonio Costa, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrive for the EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
