Search nears end for three missing in San Francisco Bay

Rescuers searched a vast stretch of San Francisco Bay and nearby ocean waters Wednesday for three people missing after a cabin cruiser carrying 20 family members and friends capsized near Alcatraz Island, killing at least one person and a dog, authorities said.

The boat, named Volare, went down Tuesday afternoon about 600 yards from Alcatraz after what witnesses described as rough seas. Sixteen people were rescued, including three who were taken to a hospital in stable condition, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said. Most of the reported injuries were impact injuries from people jumping into the water.

The person who died was identified by the San Francisco medical examiner as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79, of rural Sutter County in the Sacramento Valley, The Guardian reported. His brother, Ralph Boisa, told The Associated Press that the group had gone out on Clifford Boisa’s boat to celebrate the life of Clifford’s daughter, who died at age 33 in 2016 and loved to surf.

“We’ve gone through a lot of tragedy over the years,” Ralph Boisa said. He said the missing people were his sister Carol, Clifford’s wife Jackie, and his daughter’s friend.

The U.S. Coast Guard and San Francisco Fire Department responded shortly after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday to an initial report of a boat fire between the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. San Francisco police officers in a marine unit arrived first and found a man in the water in “severe distress,” Crispen said. Officers pulled him aboard and began CPR, but he was later pronounced dead at Gas House Cove.

Authorities initially believed 19 people had been on the vessel, but witness accounts later put the number at 20. Crispen said all were adults and most were family members.

“The information we have is that it left from St. Francis Yacht Club, and the initial report was a vessel on fire. Upon arrival, our members did not evidence any fire,” Crispen said Tuesday. “The reports we’ve had from witnesses is that there was rough seas and apparently the vessel began to take on water and was turned over in the bay.”

Officials later said the boat did not depart from St. Francis Yacht Club but from an adjacent marina. The yacht club said in a social media post Wednesday that none of its members had been aboard. “Our hearts go out to the friends and family of those on board … we share this Bay and therefore, understand the weight of this tragedy,” the club wrote.

Coast Guard Capt. Jared S. Toczko said rescuers had cumulatively searched 950 square nautical miles and planned to end rescue efforts after sundown Wednesday. He did not rule out the possibility that the missing could still be alive, but said some may have been trapped inside the three-deck, 49-foot cabin cruiser.

“We do know individuals were in the main deck and potentially below deck,” Toczko said.

Authorities said life jackets were on board and that some survivors were wearing them, though witnesses reported several people in the water without life jackets. Search teams used thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling, and by Tuesday evening had expanded into the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Crispen said 11 vessels were involved in the search Tuesday, including the Coast Guard, the Oakland Police Department’s marine unit and private boats. Mayor Daniel Lurie said officials remained focused on finding the missing.

“This is an all-hands-on-deck search and, hopefully, rescue,” Lurie said.

Officials set up a family reunification center at Fort Mason. Anyone seeking information about a possible family member aboard the boat was asked to call the Red Cross at 1-800-RED CROSS.