Rescuers were still searching for three missing people on Wednesday after a boat involved in a memorial service sank in the cold, fast-moving waters of San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, authorities said.
At least one person died and 16 people were rescued after the boat capsized on Tuesday afternoon in what witnesses described as “rough seas”, said Dean Crispen, San Francisco’s fire chief. He said the passengers on board were mostly family members, and that a dog also died.
“Apparently the vessel began to take on water and was turned over in the bay,” Crispen said at a news conference on Tuesday. The vessel’s motor was still running and leaking fuel when rescuers arrived, he said.
First responders found a “severely injured” individual upon arriving at the vessel and initiated CPR. The person was brought to shore, where they were declared deceased. Divers and helicopters were also dispatched to the scene to aid in rescue efforts.
The person who died was identified as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79, from rural Sutter county in the Sacramento valley, the San Francisco medical examiner said.
Videos from Tuesday showed rescue boats surrounding the largely submerged vessel as debris floated nearby.
The vessel was a 50ft (15-meter) pleasure craft with a cabin and upper deck named Volare, said Lt Mariano Elias, a fire department spokesperson. It was registered out of Stockton, California, which sits at the eastern edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
“The wind was coming underneath the Golden Gate and blowing toward Alcatraz,” Lt Joseph England of the Richmond police department, who responded to the scene, said Wednesday. “If you have a smaller vessel and you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re hitting those swells sideways, it can lead to disaster.”
Search teams were using thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling to guide their efforts, the department said. By Tuesday evening, authorities were searching the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Initial callers reported what appeared to be smoke coming from the boat, but San Francisco police officers who first reached the vessel determined it was steam.
The boat did not depart from St Francis Yacht Club, as authorities originally said, but instead left from an adjacent marina. In a Wednesday social media post, the yacht club also clarified that none of its members had been onboard. “Our hearts go out to the friends and family of those on board … we share this Bay and therefore, understand the weight of this tragedy,” the club wrote.
After leaving the marina, the boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island state park in the bay before the apparent return trip, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder. Angel Island, the largest natural island in the bay, is known for sweeping views of the city.
Elias said the vessel was about 600 yards (about 550 meters) from Alcatraz and the emergency call came in just after 3.30pm. Alcatraz Island was once an infamously inescapable federal prison due to the chilly waters and strong currents that surround it. The island is about a mile (1.6km) off San Francisco and is now a popular tourist destination.
The Associated Press contributed reporting