SAN FRANCISCO -- Rescuers were still searching for three people missing after a boat involved in a memorial service sank in the cold, fast-moving waters of San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, authorities said Wednesday.
One person was pulled from the water but later died, and 16 others were rescued Tuesday afternoon after the boat took on water and capsized in what witnesses described as “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said. A dog on board also died.
Witnesses reported “rough seas,” the fire chief said, with rescuers saying swells reached up to 5 feet (1.5 metres). However, marine weather conditions were not severe enough to warrant a small craft advisory.
Sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 C) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people suffer a loss of dexterity in minutes, which can be dangerous or deadly when someone is trying to escape a sinking watercraft.
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.
The vessel was a 50-foot (15-metre) pleasure craft with a cabin and upper deck named Volare, registered out of Stockton, California, said Lt. Mariano Elias, a San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson. He said the vessel was about 600 yards (about 550 metres) from Alcatraz Island.
“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.”
England said no one was aboard the boat by the time his department’s marine unit got there. The crew found the vessel nearly submerged, with cushions, chairs and other debris floating nearby.
The U.S. Coast Guard was leading the search effort with a cutter named the Barracuda, other vessels and a fixed-wing aircraft, Petty Officer Kenneth Wiese said Wednesday.
The Coast Guard hadn’t yet determined how long crews will keep looking before switching to a recovery operation, he said.
“We want to consider every single option,” he said.
Search teams were using thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling to guide their efforts, the fire department said Wednesday. By Tuesday evening, authorities had been searching the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The boat departed at or near the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, 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.
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 maximum-security federal prison at Alcatraz Island, which closed more than 60 years ago, was infamously inescapable due to the chilly waters and strong currents that surround “The Rock.” Designed to hold the nation’s intractable criminals, including Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly, it is now a popular tourist attraction. The island is about a mile (1.6 kilometers) off San Francisco.
Olga R. Rodriguez, The Associated Press
Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Ed White in Detroit; and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.
