One person has died and three others remain missing after a recreational boat capsized in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, and the United States Coast Guard has now suspended its search for those still unaccounted for. Officials said the vessel had 20 people aboard when it rolled over and sank not far from one of the most recognisable landmarks on the California coast, turning a frantic rescue into a days-long effort that has so far failed to find the missing.
Authorities identified the man who died as Clifford Bosia, 79 years old, who lost his life after the 49-foot craft went down. Officials offered their condolences to his family and friends, and to the families of the three people still missing, describing a close-knit group of friends and relatives who had gone out together on the bay before the day turned to tragedy in the water off Alcatraz.
According to the San Francisco Fire Department, the final tally from the rescue was stark. Chief Dean Crispin said one person had been declared deceased and one dog aboard had also died. Three people who were pulled from the water were taken to the emergency room and have since been released, while 13 others who were rescued were helped at a reunification center and are now home safe. That left three individuals still unaccounted for as the search went on.
The emergency was first reported as a possible vessel fire, but officials said that account was unsubstantiated. After speaking with survivors and the crews on scene, the Coast Guard said there was no evidence of any fire. Instead, officials said, the 49-foot cabin cruiser, which had three levels including an enclosed main deck and lower deck, appeared to have taken a wave over the side, listed heavily, lost stability and then rolled quickly to starboard.
That sudden capsize, officials said, may help explain why three people could not get out. Survivor debriefs indicated that some of those aboard had been on the main deck and possibly below decks when the boat went over. With the vessel rolling and then slipping beneath the surface, officials said, people inside could have become disoriented in the dark, cold water, and there was a high possibility that some remained trapped inside the hull, a question they said would be examined during the investigation.
The Coast Guard mounted an exhaustive search before calling it off. The sector commander for Coast Guard Sector San Francisco said crews had been on scene almost continuously for about 23 hours, cumulatively covering roughly 950 square nautical miles and searching more than 1,700 miles of track line using 11 surface assets and four aircraft. He said the teams had completely saturated the search area, factoring in tides, currents and weather, but had been unable to locate any survivors.
Officials credited good Samaritans with saving many lives in the first moments of the emergency. Fishermen who were nearby were the first on the scene, pulling people out of the water, and a kiteboarder who was out on the bay allowed several people to cling to his sail and board until help arrived. Officials said that without those quick actions, the toll from the capsizing could have been far worse than it was.
Officials said some of those recovered had been wearing life jackets, and that life jackets had been aboard the vessel. Of the 20 people on the boat, 16 were brought out of the water alive, a rescue that officials repeatedly described as an all-hands-on-deck effort involving crews and agencies from across the region, from Marin to Oakland to San Francisco, along with the private boaters who happened to be nearby.
The city's mayor said the loss weighed heavily, telling reporters these were the kinds of moments a mayor never wants to face. The mayor offered condolences to the family of the man who died and to those of the three still missing, while expressing pride in the response by multiple agencies and by the ordinary people on the water who rushed to help. Officials thanked the fire and police departments and the Coast Guard for their efforts through the night.
With the search for survivors suspended, officials said the operation would eventually shift toward recovery. They said crews had marked the position where the boat went down and knew its coordinates, and that the next step would be to locate the vessel and send down a remotely operated underwater drone to assess whether it was structurally sound and could be raised. Because of the depth, officials said, they would likely need a specialized company to help lift the boat safely.
The recreational vessel had launched from near the St. Francis Yacht Club, officials said earlier, and as the scale of the emergency became clear they had escalated the response to a red alert, a designation used when more than five victims are confirmed. A reunification center was set up to bring survivors together with their families. Officials said the cause of the capsizing, and questions about how so many people came to be aboard, would be addressed once the search and rescue phase was fully over.