Authorities are trying to determine the cause of a boat that sank in San Francisco Bay, leaving one dead and three missing and presumed dead.
Here is a summary of what happened.
What do we know about the incident?
A group of 20 passengers – mostly family and friends – boarded the boat, called Volare, on Tuesday for a memorial service in honor of a loved one. After leaving the San Francisco Bay Area, they passed under the Golden Gate Bridge to the Pacific Ocean and across San Francisco Bay to Angel Island.
But as the afternoon wind picked up, the 49-foot pleasure boat took on water as it returned to shore. It began sinking about 600 yards from Alcatraz Island at about 3:30 p.m. Some passengers clung to the top of the sunken boat while others floated in choppy waters.
Multiple 911 calls came in about the vessel in distress, prompting a massive rescue operation involving the US Coast Guard and San Francisco Fire Department and multiple partner agencies. Several Good Samaritans also worked to get people out of the upper deck of the sinking ship.
Rescuers tried to pull 17 passengers to safety on Tuesday afternoon, but one person was pronounced dead when they reached the shore and three were taken to a local hospital with injuries from falling into the water. Three passengers are still missing.
What about search?
The search for the missing was not a challenge not only because of the strong wind and rough seas, but because the incident took place in the deep channel of the harbor built by cargo ships, according to Lt. Mariano Elias, a spokesman for the San Francisco Fire Department.
While most of the San Francisco Bay is there less than 30 feet deepthe place where the ship went down was about 130 meters deep. That made it impossible for Fire Department divers to reach, which usually don’t go below 60 feet, Elias said.
Officials ultimately do not know if the missing people are with the boat, trapped under one of its decks, or washed out to sea. But Jarod Toczko, the US Coast Guard’s field commander in San Francisco, said there was a “hundreds chance” that the missing people were trapped inside the vessel.
The survivors, he said, noted that the passengers were on the main deck and possibly under the deck when they encountered problems.
At 8:30 pm Wednesday night, after the US Coast Guard and other agencies searched the 950 square kilometer area for 54 hours, the US Coast Guard suspended its active search based on the number of efforts that had been made and the reduced chances of finding a survivor.
“Stopping the search operation is one of the most difficult parts of the job and our condolences go out to the families of all those involved,” Toczko said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Who was on the boat?
A party of friends and family boarded a boat for a memorial service. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, they gathered to spread the ashes of Maria Boisa, a Fremont nurse who committed suicide in 2015 at the age of 32.
The man who died was identified Wednesday by the San Francisco medical examiner as Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79, of Sutter County. According to the Chronicle, he was the older brother of John Boisa, 62, who was the ship’s owner and captain.
In this incident, a dog on board the ship died.
Where is the boat?
The San Francisco Police Department is working with the state’s Office of Emergency Management to locate the sunken boat.
San Francisco Police Cmdr. Brien Hoo said on Wednesday that his department is investigating the possibility of refloating the ship.
Once the boat is found, he said, the Department will use an underwater plane to check its condition and see if they have the strength to lift it.
