Skip to main content

Survivor of deadly boat capsizing near Alcatraz recounts terrifying moments as mother, aunt remain missing

By CNN

CA: SURVIVOR OF ALCATRAZ BOAT CAPSIZE SPEAKS

Click here for updates on this story

    SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — One of the survivors of Tuesday’s deadly boat capsizing near Alcatraz Island is speaking publicly for the first time, describing the frantic moments she escaped the sinking vessel and the heartbreak of watching her mother disappear beneath the water.

Stephanie Gollmer, a Palo Alto nurse, survived after the 49-foot cabin cruiser Volare capsized in San Francisco Bay. But her mother, 74-year-old Carol Boisa, and her aunt, Jackie Boisa, remain missing.

The tragedy unfolded during what was meant to be a memorial boat trip for a deceased family member. Twenty people were aboard the Stockton-based vessel when it overturned about 600 yards west of Alcatraz Island. Sixteen people were rescued. One passenger, 78-year-old Clifford Boisa, died at the scene, and authorities later recovered the body of 58-year-old Tondra Miller, also known as Tondra Madruga, on Thursday.

Speaking exclusively to CBS News Bay Area, Gollmer said nothing seemed out of the ordinary before disaster struck.

“Everyone was just fun, jovial, fun conversations,” she said. “There was nothing amiss, nothing.”

Family members had been enjoying the trip, taking in the scenery and recording videos together. One video captured Carol Boisa affectionately petting a friend’s bulldog just 30 minutes before the boat capsized.

Gollmer said she and her mother had moved inside the cabin after being splashed by waves.

“Mom and I were sitting on the deck for a little bit and just enjoying the views,” she said. “We got splashed a few times and then kind of decided, let’s go inside.”

Moments later, everything changed.

“There was one really far tilt this way, and we all went, ‘Oh,’ and then we all started going this way,” Gollmer recalled. “Then we just realized my mom just went down. My aunt slid past me in a chair, and then realized, we’re not going back.”

As the boat filled with water, Gollmer escaped by diving through a cabin window. Disoriented underwater, she struggled to find the surface.

“I hit my head three or four times just trying to find the surface,” she said.

When she finally emerged, she realized she was bleeding from the head. But her injuries quickly became secondary as she searched desperately for her mother.

“I started kind of watching one by one and I go, ‘I don’t see my mom. I don’t see Mom,’ ” she said.

Although search efforts continue, Gollmer said she no longer believes her mother survived.

Carol Boisa spent her life caring for others, both as a mother and as an in-home caregiver. Gollmer said her mother’s last known conversation was with fellow passenger Tondra Madruga, who also died, about how proud she was of her daughter.

“Shared a story of how proud she was of me being a nurse and living her dream,” Gollmer said. “And I will forever hold that close.”

While floating in the cold waters of San Francisco Bay, Gollmer said strangers became her lifeline.

She credited a kite surfer named Jason with helping multiple survivors stay afloat by allowing them to hold onto the handles of his board. She also thanked another man named Jeff, who brought her aboard his boat and wrapped her in blankets until rescuers arrived.

“I owe Jason and Jeff everything,” Gollmer said. “If I could somehow meet you and give you a big handshake, hug, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

As authorities continue searching for Carol and Jackie Boisa, Gollmer is making one final request in honor of her mother.

After one of Carol Boisa’s former clients died, she adopted the client’s elderly cat, Miss Tina, to ensure the animal would have a home. Now, Gollmer hopes someone else will do the same.

“If there’s anyone out there that would love to take in a sweet, loving little elderly cat,” she said. “Please reach out and see if it’s a good match.”

She said finding Miss Tina a loving home would be another way to honor a woman whose life centered on caring for others.

“A lot of her favorite memories were hanging out with family,” Gollmer said. “Family was everything to her.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

In record heat, a warming world has come to rely on China to stay cool

By CNN
Hong Kong (CNN) — With wildfires blazing and temperatures hitting record highs in Europe, one China-made product has never been hotter: air-conditioners.Europeans, who have been slower to adopt AC than those living in other parts of the world, are lining up outside stores and driving long distances in the hopes of securing an AC unit as blistering summer temperatures in some areas surge past 100 degrees Fahrenheit.Major Chinese brands Midea, Gree and Haier are reporting AC higher sales overseas, just as leaders in countries such as France, Germany and Belgium are threatening to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, which they say are damaging their own industries.While air conditioning accounts for a small portion of Chinese exports to the EU, China has seized on the surge in sales as evidence that European consumers need Chinese products.A column recently published by the official state-run news agency Xinhua criticized European policymakers for ignoring the needs of consumers, titled: “The air conditioner paradox: Europe is too hot for tariffs on China.”“Blocking Chinese ACs won’t fix Europe’s problems –– it will only make life harder for ordinary people,” the author of the op-ed wrote.The EU and China will hold discussions over the next few months to address the record trade imbalance of nearly 360 billion euros, or about $406 billion, as of last year. The gap has widened in recent years as China has ramped up exports, particularly of electric and hybrid cars that threaten to displace Europe’s biggest auto brands.“It makes trade negotiations extremely difficult,” said Cameron Johnson, a supply chain expert and senior partner at Tidalwave Solutions, a Shanghai-based consultancy.“If you’re a government, you cannot tell people, ‘Sorry, you can’t have air conditioning because we don’t want Chinese overcapacity.’”‘Too hot for tariffs’Other parts of the world have come to rely on China for air conditioning as well. In the US, where “heat domes” have led to extreme heat warnings in the south and central regions, Chinese brands account for 50% of the market, according to Euromonitor International, a market intelligence company. Globally, that figure reached 65% last year, the firm said.Veronika Kandusova, global insight manager for consumer appliances at Euromonitor International, expects that proportion to increase alongside global temperatures. Chinese brands were able to capitalize on high demand this year, especially in Europe, thanks to flexible supply chains that can rapidly develop new, localized products.European consumers have lagged behind the rest of the world in adopting AC, due to high energy costs, expensive installation fees and restrictions on retrofitting the continent’s older buildings. In the past, summers have not been hot enough to justify the trouble for most homes.The climate crisis is now changing that.Midea Group, one of China’s largest home appliance brands, designed its PortaSplitAC unit specifically for Europe by making it portable, quiet and low enough to keep from blocking European windows. The model has sold more than 200,000 units this year, doubling year-on-year, the company said.“European home appliance markets, long dominated by Bosch, Electrolux, Miele, and other established Western brands by default, are opening competitive gaps that Chinese companies are structurally positioned to fill,” the research firm EqualOcean wrote in a blog post last month. “Midea’s PortaSplit is the product that crystallizes the shift.”Those advantages translate to many other industries that could give China more sway in global trade, said Johnson of Tidalwave Solutions.“This is just the beginning,” he said. “As inflation starts to gain hold in Europe and in the States, people don’t want to pay more for products. So what do you do? Well, you have to have some Chinese stuff.”Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said that European countries are more focused on addressing specific strategic segments and Chinese industrial policies than broadly inhibiting Chinese imports.“The EU is neither looking for complete balance — in the sense that every euro of goods imported must correspond to a euro of goods exported — nor to reduce its reliance on China for more widely available household appliances,” he said.Seeking hotter marketsChina also needs new markets like Europe. Facing a housing slump and declining consumption at home, China has ramped up exports to other nations to buttress slowing economic growth. China ended last year with a record trade surplus of $1.2 trillion.Even with rising exports, China’s reported second-quarter GDP was the lowest in more than three years.Much of China’s recent export strength is driven by high-tech goods like batteries, electric cars and solar. These have become known as the “new three” categories for export growth, as the “old three” –– clothing, furniture, and home appliances –– have tapered.As its summers grow hotter, Europe offers Chinese appliance makers a potential renaissance.Europe has the world’s lowest penetration rates for air conditioning, said Denis Depoux, global managing director at the consultancy Roland Berger, averaging about 20%. That’s compared to 90% penetration in the US, where Chinese exports would also face tariffs.“Europe is the prize,” he said. “If I am a Chinese manufacturer of air conditioning units, Europe is a very attractive market. It’s growing demand, it’s new, it’s affluent, margins are higher.”According to Chinese media, some regions like China’s eastern Shandong province have received government support to boost manufacturing of cooling products and other home appliances this year.Korean and Japanese appliance makers are also benefiting from booming European demand. Meanwhile, University of Michigan economics professor Chris Douglas argued in an op-ed this month that the state of Michigan should manufacture air conditioners for Europe.However, the seasonal nature of cooling demand will limit market opportunities as temperatures eventually ease.“In two months people will have forgotten that air conditioning was needed during the summer, but it will come again,” Depoux said. “Is it a meaningful, sustainable opportunity? I’m not so sure.”One sourcing agent in China was already encouraging retailers to stock up for next year, in a marketing video published to WeChat, China’s popular social messaging app, titled, “Europe’s AC Gold Rush! Print Cash From The Heatwave.”“Secure your market position before the 2027 madness begins,” she said, twirling and pointing to a room full of portable fans and coolers.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
Read Next Story

Related Stories

Latest News
DOJ asking secretive court to remove Afghan woman allegedly tied to terror plot
2 hours ago

DOJ asking secretive court to remove Afghan woman allegedly tied to terror plot

Husband of North Carolina woman missing in Grenada doesn't suspect foul play

Secretive terrorist removal court set for first hearing in Afghan woman’s case

Un adolescente negro llamó al 911 para reportar un arma y murió baleado por la policía de Austin

Aunque la Fed mantiene las tasas sin cambios, los ahorradores aún pueden obtener buenos rendimientos