A boat carrying 20 people capsized and sank near Alcatraz Island, killing one person and, according to city officials, injuring three people with three others still missing.
The San Francisco Fire Department said on social media that the boat, a 49-foot cabin cruiser called the Volare, sank into San Francisco Bay at around 3:37 p.m. Tuesday local time.
“They were hit by a wave or took on water, and the boat capsized,” San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said, according to SFGATE.
The dead man has been identified as Clifford Boisa, 79.
The Sutter County, California, resident had served as a reserve deputy sheriff at the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office since 1987, the sheriff’s office told Fox News.
Mr. Boisa was the older brother of the Volare’s owner and captain John Boisa, 62, who was also onboard when it sank.
The captain told the San Francisco Chronicle upon returning to his residence Wednesday that “all of us are grieving during this time” and did not provide any further comment.
The group took the boat out on the water to scatter a loved one’s ashes as part of a memorial service, according to the New York Times.
Local fire and police departments along with the U.S. Coast Guard responded to the area where the boat sank near Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.
Rescuers retrieved 17 people from the water, including Mr. Boisa, though life-saving efforts were unsuccessful.
Another three people rescued are in the hospital in stable condition with undisclosed but non-life-threatening injuries
Efforts to find the three missing passengers were ongoing as of Wednesday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard Southwest District account said on X.
A dog that was aboard the Volare also died, fire officials said.
James Smith, who was captaining a fishing boat nearby when the Volare sank and who aided in the rescue, told KRON-TV that “my guess is there are people still trapped inside that vessel … because it did go down pretty quick” adding that several people were not wearing life jackets when the boat capsized.
The boat is now resting at the bottom of a shipping channel in San Francisco Bay about 120 feet down.
That depth is out of the reach of San Francisco Fire Department divers who can only go 60 feet down, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
