Coast Guard will suspend search for passengers on sunken boat near Alcatraz

The U.S. Coast Guard plans to suspend its search by the end of Wednesday for the three missing passengers from the 49-foot cabin cruiser named Volare that sank near Alcatraz Island, officials said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

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On Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., the San Francisco Fire Department received multiple calls for a smoking “vessel in distress,” the San Francisco Fire Department said on social media. The boat was hit by a wave in rough seas and capsized, as SFGATE previously reported. Earlier reports of a fire turned out to be steam from water hitting the boat’s engine.

The three-level cruiser that had a home port of Stockton departed from the St. Francis Yacht Club with 20 passengers, mostly family and friends attending a memorial service. As of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, 13 passengers have been safely rescued and treated at the rescue site. Three were taken to local hospitals for medical care and have since been released. Three passengers remain missing, and one person was rescued and given CPR but died from his injuries.

The San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the victim as 79-year-old Clifford Boisa from Sutter County. Clifford was the older brother of John Boisa, the owner and captain of the sunken boat, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.) One dog also died on board.

“Despite that extensive effort, we have been unsuccessful in locating any survivors within the search area,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jarod Toczko said during the press conference. “Suspending an active search is one of the most difficult things we do as Coast Guard commanders.”

Toczko said the Coast Guard has been unable to locate the three missing people after searching for almost 24 hours straight, covering 950 nautical square miles using 11 surface assets and four aircraft. The boat sank in a place where the San Francisco Bay is 130 feet deep, but its final position on the bottom of the bay is still unknown. 

It’s unclear what exactly caused the boat to sink,though Toczko said that “things happened very quickly.” When the vessel took on water, he said, “it quickly rolled to starboard.”

“There was the weather deck up above with the canopy, but then there was the main deck and a lower deck that are bothenclosed, so there is a high possibility that individuals could have been trapped inside the vessel,” Tozko said. “We’ve done survivor debriefs, and we do know that individuals were in the main deck and potentially below deck, so we know there were there were folks there.”

Several public safety agencies and first responders, including the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Fire Department, the United States Coast Guard, the Oakland Police Department, Tiburon firefighters and the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, contributed to the rescue, along with nearby recreational and commercial vessels that spotted the sinking ship.

“Those good Samaritans called this distress case initially, made us aware of it and then rescued people from the water,” Toczko said at the press conference. “You all saved lives. Your actions saved lives.”

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Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass Tub, was flagged down while on a fishing tour with 34 people. As one of the first vessels to arrive, his crew pulled out the fire hose to assist, assuming the boat was on fire. He was able to help hand out life jackets to passengers, some of whom were already in the water,and assist with rescues. Anfinson told SFGATE that he was able to throw a life ring to a woman with a head injury and race her back to shore.

“I thought I should probably get her on the boat and get her in fast,” Anfinson said.

Tozko said the main focus has been on search and rescue efforts, but an investigation is ongoing. At 130 feet the boat is too far down for rescue divers to reach and the vessel will need to be recovered.

“This hasn’t happened as long as I can remember, so we’re definitely going to have to have all hands on deck to think about how we’re going to safely recover the boat and also … the safety of our divers.”

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie expressed his condolences to Clifford Boisa’s family and thanked the rescue crews for their efforts.

“It was a truly all-hands-on-deck effort to save 16 people,” he said. “And my heart goes out to the families.”

SFGATE intern Lizzy Rager contributed to this report. 

This news story has been updated.