Family at memorial service among victims in SF Bay boat sinking

Search and rescue personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard are continuing to look for three people who remain missing after a boat sank near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday afternoon.San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias told SFGATE that the vessel was not a pontoon boat, as initially reported, but a three-story, 49-foot cabin cruiser vessel named Volare from Stockton. 

Read more Napa developer embezzled $1M from Margaritaville project, lawsuit says

Among the 20 people aboard the vessel were members of a family attending a memorial service. Elias said they were about 600 yards from Alcatraz when the boat became distressed, with the first 911 calls reporting that the sinking came in at 3:37 p.m. While a fire was initially reported as the vessel sank, Elias said fire department officials now believe onlookers actually saw steam.

“It was the engine that was warm and hot. Once it hit the water, steam was created,” Elias said. “It created a big cloud.”

San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said in a press conference that those aboard the boat reported “rough seas” shortly before it capsized.

“They were hit by a wave or took on water, and the boat capsized,” Crispen said of the early reports that the San Francisco Fire Department received.

Elias said the vessel had life jackets on board, but it’s not known how many passengers were wearing the flotation devices when the boat sank. Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, the SFFD and the San Francisco Police Department, responded to the scene. By the time the first responders arrived, only the top canopy of the three-story boat was visible above the cold bay waters.

“When the police arrived, they said they saw one story, one upper deck with people around,” Elias told SFGATE. “People had jumped out of the boat itself.”

Read more Trump’s face is everywhere. Taxpayers are footing the bill.

One man was found in the water in severe distress. He was given CPR but was declared deceased on shore. A dog was also found deceased at the scene. Three other people were taken to local hospitals in stable condition. 

Elias said the boat sank in the shipping channel, the deepest part of San Francisco Bay, where divers cannot access the vessel. “The boat is 120 feet at the bottom of the bay right now,” he said. 

The San Francisco Police Department is leading the investigation into the incident. Requests for further information from the U.S. Coast Guard and the SFPD were not immediately returned before the time of publication.