(SAN FRANCISCO) — One person is dead and three others are missing after a boat with more than a dozen passengers aboard capsized and sank in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday, according to local authorities.
Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, California, when it was hit by a wave, causing it to capsize.
The man who died was taken to the shore severely injured and, despite CPR being administered, was pronounced dead, officials said. He was identified on Wednesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa.
Three people were taken to the hospital and reported to be in stable condition. They were expected to be released later Tuesday.
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen told reporters that authorities believe that there was a memorial service that the 20 passengers, all adults and mostly comprised of family members, were engaging in on the vessel when it capsized. One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.
Rescuer Justin Marceline told KGO that some passengers were “banging on the windows, trying to get out” of the boat.
“It was pretty wild, seeing that, honestly,” Marceline said, adding that conditions in the water were “really bad.”
“The people that were bobbing in the water, we pulled them out first,” Marceline said. “The people in the water were elderly folks, they were conscious, but people were too tired and worn out.”
The San Francisco Fire Department said it initially received a call for a fire on the boat at 3:30 p.m. local time. However, authorities said they haven’t yet seen evidence that there was a fire on board.
Earlier, authorities said they believed there were 19 people aboard and that they were looking for two missing passengers.
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