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 people were rescued after the boat capsized Tuesday afternoon in what witnesses described as “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said.
“Apparently the vessel began to take on water and was turned over in the bay,” Crispen said at a news conference Tuesday. The vessel’s motor was still running and leaking fuel when rescuers arrived, he said.
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Videos from Tuesday showed rescue boats surrounding the largely submerged vessel as debris floated nearby. A dog on board also died.
Lt. Mariano Elias, a fire department spokesperson, described it as a 50-foot pleasure craft with a cabin and upper deck named Volare, documented out of Stockton, California.
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.
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The boat departed at or near the St. Francis Yacht Club, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island, a state park in the bay, before the apparent return trip, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder. A person who answered the phone at the yacht club on Tuesday said had no information.
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 off San Francisco and is now a popular tourist destination.
Elias said the vessel was about 600 yards from Alcatraz and the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m.
