One person has died and two others are missing after a pontoon boat capsized in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, authorities said, following a large rescue operation that pulled survivors from the water. Officials said 19 people had been aboard the three-deck vessel when it went over roughly 600 yards off Alcatraz on Tuesday afternoon, in a scene that grew into an all-hands-on-deck search across the bay, not far from one of the most recognisable landmarks on the California coast.
The emergency was first reported as a vessel fire near Alcatraz, but the fire chief said crews found no evidence of an actual fire. Instead, the police department's Marine Unit, the first to reach the scene, discovered the pontoon boat capsized and mostly underwater, leaking fuel and with its motor still running, and at least one person already in the water as the rescue began to take shape.
What followed was a massive effort to pull people from the top compartment of the sinking vessel and from the surrounding water. Officials said crews found one severely injured person, began CPR and rushed that individual ashore, where the patient was declared deceased at Gas House Cove. The death turned a frantic rescue into a recovery effort for at least one of those who had been aboard.
As the survivors were brought in, a clearer picture began to emerge. Of the 19 people reported aboard, officials said 13 had been brought to shore safely and three others had been taken to California Pacific Hospital on Van Ness Avenue, most with impact injuries from falling into the water rather than burns. That left two people still unaccounted for, and the search for them became the central focus of the operation.
The hunt for the two missing pressed on well into the evening. Officials said 11 vessels were on the water with divers in the bay and helicopters overhead, and that crews were moving east, following the tides and wind in the direction anyone in the water would most likely drift. Whitecaps and gusty conditions made the search difficult, but officials vowed to continue for as long as it was safe, at least until dark.
A range of agencies worked side by side. Officials said the United States Coast Guard, the Oakland Police Department and San Francisco's fire and police departments all took part, with private vessels also helping and some crews ferrying people to shore. Authorities declared a yellow alert and then escalated to a red alert, which signals that more than five victims have been confirmed, a measure of the scale of the emergency out on the bay.
Officials said everyone aboard appeared to be an adult, with no children believed to have been on the vessel, though one dog was also declared deceased. A reunification center was set up at the Concourse Building at Fort Mason, with the city's Human Services Agency and the American Red Cross called in to help reunite survivors with their families. Officials said they were still gathering details, but that the recreational boat appeared to have launched from near the St. Francis Yacht Club.
The mayor offered condolences to the family of the person who died and thanked the fire chief and the agencies that had responded within the first 90 minutes of the emergency. Officials described the scene as active and dangerous, said they had not yet begun to investigate the cause, and stressed that the search for the two missing would continue on a stretch of water that is normally crowded with sightseeing traffic.