One person died, two people were missing and 16 others were rescued from the waters off San Francisco after a pontoon boat carrying 19 people sank today, authorities said.
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen reported the toll and said crews that arrived on the scene near Alcatraz Island found a three-deck pontoon vessel almost fully under water, with the motor still running and leaking fuel.
Alcatraz Island, once a federal prison infamously inescapable due to the strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it, is now a tourist destination. It is located in San Francisco Bay about about 1.6 kilometres north of the city's shoreline, in an often windy area that attracts sailboats and other recreational vessels.
Videos of the scene showed boats deployed to rescue people who had been on the vessel, which was largely submerged with objects floating nearby. By Tuesday evening (local time), authorities were seen searching for the missing in open ocean on the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The boating mishap was initially reported as a fire, “but we now don’t have any evidence of that,” Crispen said.
Some of the people were injured from falling into the water, but there were no reports of burns, he said. The person who died was alive when plucked from the frigid waters by rescue crews but later died. A dog onboard also died.
Crews continued to search the water for the two missing with divers, helicopters and 11 vessels, Crispen said.
“Right now we are in full rescue mode,” he added.
All those rescued were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina, a small craft harbor in San Francisco. Three people with injuries from falling from the boat were taken to the hospital, Crispen said.
Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass-Tub, told the San Francisco Chronicle his boat was carrying guests toward the Golden Gate Bridge in “pretty windy, a little choppy” waters when a man on a smaller vessel flagged them down and pointed to a pontoon boat in the middle of the bay that appeared to be on fire.
By the time the Bass-Tub reached it, the flames were out, but the pontoon was sinking. Some people were already in the water while others remained aboard, Anfinson said, adding that they tried to hand out life jackets to the passengers.
One woman's head was injured.
“We figured we would get her first,” Anfinson said. A deckhand lowered a swim ladder and threw a life ring into the water to help pull her aboard.
“It was scary,” Anfinson said. “I don’t want to see anybody in that situation.”
Fire Lieutenant Mariano Elias said the vessel, described as a “pontoon pleasure boat,” was about about 550 metres from Alcatraz and the emergency call came in just after 3.30pm (local time).
Crispen said the vessel was believed to have launched near the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. A person who answered the phone there said the club did not have any information on what happened.
Live video from the scene showed a man and a woman wrapped in blankets and sitting on a curb before walking to a nearby ambulance. A yellow tarp covered a body on the dock.
The Coast Guard and Oakland police also helped in the rescue, Elias said.
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