New details are emerging about last week’s harrowing rescue effort in San Francisco Bay after a yacht carrying 20 passengers started sinking less than a mile off Alcatraz Island.
“I’d say like maybe a third of it was under water when we got there,” said Michael Montoya, a commercial fisherman who happened to be boating in the bay that afternoon. “There was screaming everywhere.”
Michael Montoya, 38, says he rushed to the site of a sinking boat in the San Francisco Bay, about 600 yards away from Alcatraz Island. Montoya estimates he pulled at least eight passengers from the frigid waters.
Montoya, 38, estimates he pulled eight people from the water – half the number of passengers who ultimately survived the chaotic incident last Tuesday.
Montoya and fellow fisherman Justin Marceline, 38, said they headed toward the vessel after spotting what they believed was smoke coming from the boat.
“You just instantly know that it’s not good,” Montoya said. “Whoever’s over there is in a bad situation.”
Montoya said it took him about four minutes to reach the boat, where he immediately found people in the water without life jackets, screaming and struggling to stay afloat.
“I’m going to die, I’m going die,” Montoya recounted one woman yelling. “When we got her to the side of the boat, [then she said], ‘Please, don’t let me go. Please, don’t let, me go.’”
While Montoya has worked as a commercial fisherman for more than a decade, he said that afternoon was his first time back on the water in years. A car accident in 2023, he said, left him with serious injuries, including broken ribs and punctured lungs. Unable to work, Montoya said he was forced to sell his boat and truck to help make ends meet while he recovered. He said he remains homeless and has been staying on a friend’s couch for the past six months while he tries to get back on his feet.
“I almost died – I pretty much was dead,” Montoya said. “I never thought I’d ever be someone to save people.”
Michael Montoya says he was hospitalized for more than 20 days after a car accident left him with serious injuries.
During a news conference last Wednesday, first responders with the Coast Guard and the San Francisco Fire Department publicly credited good Samaritans, including fishermen, for helping to save many of the passengers.
“Those individuals were first on scene,” said Capt. Jarod Toczko, commander for the Coast Guard San Francisco sector. “No question, no doubt…those folks saved lives.”
Authorities with the Coast Guard and the fire department, however, told NBC Bay Area they do not have records detailing the names of individuals who assisted in the rescue.
Capt. Jarod Toczko is Commander of the Coast Guard San Francisco sector.
Montoya said he and Marceline managed to grab at least eight people out of the water and estimated the passengers ranged in age from about 20 to 80 years old.
During the chaotic rescue, Montoya said one woman could be heard shouting, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I got all these people together for a memorial.”
The 20 passengers, many of whom were family members, had gathered that day as part of a memorial service for Maria Boisa, who died in 2015 at the age of 32. Members of the Boisa family, who had hoped to pay their respects to one fallen loved one, ultimately found themselves mourning the loss of other family members that day.
It was terrible…I saw people sink in the boat.
Michael Montoya, a commercial fisherman was one of the first to respond to the sinking boat inSan Francisco Bay
“It was terrible,” Montoya said. “I saw people sink in the boat.”
Montoya recalled watching the boat completely tip on its side as a man and two women stood trapped inside behind the cabin’s glass windows.
“I could see the guy punching the window as hard as he could and nothing was happening,” he said. “It was kind of like a nightmare.”
It’s unclear exactly who Montoya saw inside the boat, but two people have been confirmed dead: Tondra Miller, 58, and Clifford Boisa, 79. Boisa’s wife, Jackie Boisa, 77, and his sister, Carol Boisa, 74, were also aboard and are still unaccounted for, though they are presumed to have drowned. Authorities spent more than 24 hours trying to locate the missing women but suspended their search efforts last Wednesday at sunset.
Tondra Miller, 58, and Clifford Boisa, 79, are confirmed dead after a 49-foot yacht sank in the San Francisco Bay last Tuesday. Boisa’s wife, Jackie Boisa, 77, and his sister, Carol Boisa, 74, were also aboard and are still unaccounted for, though they are presumed to have drowned.
The San Francisco Fire Department and the Coast Guard initially described the sinking boat as having caught fire, but both agencies later said there was no evidence of a blaze. Instead, investigators now believe a wave knocked the 49-foot yacht to its side, causing it to take on water and emit what authorities described as “steam.”
Montoya disagrees with that assessment.
“No, it wasn’t steam,” Montoya told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit. “No way, not possible. Steam doesn’t go up in the air – it just kind of dissipates.”
Montoya said he believes what he saw was a large plume of smoke, leading him to believe the boat experienced some type of mechanical failure.
Senior Investigative Reporter Bigad Shaban has the latest on what the victim’s family is saying and examines the journey of the Volare boat before it sank in the San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island.
Family members who were aboard that day told the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit they didn’t notice any problems with the boat’s mechanics leading up to the accident and said they believe waves and wind were to blame.
The Coast Guard, together with the San Francisco Police Department, said it is still looking into whether there was a mechanical failure on the boat. While the cause of the accident remains under investigation, the Coast Guard has acknowledged a boat of that size should have been more than capable of safely transporting its 20 passengers through the bay that afternoon.
Michael Montoya is a commercial fisherman of 13 years, but just recently returned to the water after a debilitating car accident in 2023 left him unable to work.
Montoya said he was just thankful he was there. His car accident three years ago, he said, left him physically and financially devastated. He lost both his parents in recent years and has been homeless for roughly six months. Montoya said he is currently staying with a friend while he tries to save enough money to get a place of his own.
“It’s not been easy,” he said. “It’s hard to take care of yourself when you’re starting off again.”
Montoya said he has often felt hopeless, but said last week’s rescue effort in the bay changed that. He said the passengers he managed to pull out of the water aren’t the only ones getting a new beginning. He said the experience has left him feeling like he was saved, too.
“Doing that, it finally lifted me up,” he said. “It made me feel like somebody again. It hasn’t been like that for a long time.”
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