Friday, 17 July 2026, 6:02
A tragic boating accident in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island has left one person dead and three missing, as rescue crews search the treacherous waters. The incident, which occurred Tuesday afternoon, has prompted a massive multi-agency response.
The emergency was first reported as a fire on a vessel around 3:30 p.m. local time, but San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen later stated no evidence of fire was found. Responders discovered a three-deck pontoon boat capsized and nearly submerged, with its motor still running and leaking fuel. One person was found severely injured, was given CPR, and was pronounced dead upon reaching shore. A dog aboard also died.
Witness Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass-Tub, described seeing the pontoon appear to be on fire, but flames were out by the time he arrived. His crew helped rescue passengers, handing out life jackets. One woman with a head injury was pulled aboard using a swim ladder and life ring.
According to San Francisco fire officials, 17 people were removed from the water after the vessel overturned between Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge. Three of the people rescued were hospitalized in stable condition and later released, according to Crispen. Officials said several people suffered injuries, with most appearing to be related to the fall into the water. Authorities also said some passengers entered the bay without life jackets.
The vessel eventually sank in approximately 120 feet of water and was reportedly leaking fuel. Personal belongings from the boat could still be seen floating on the surface as crews searched for missing passengers.
Officials said strong winds, changing tides and notoriously difficult conditions around Alcatraz were complicating the operation.
The vessel was a 49-foot cabin cruiser named Volare, based out of Stockton, California.
Rescue crews established a triage area ashore and transported survivors to Fort Mason, where some were treated by paramedics. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie expressed condolences to the victim's family and said multiple agencies had joined the rescue effort. "I want to express my condolences to the family members of the deceased," Lurie said. "This is an all-hands-on-deck search and, hopefully, rescue." Lurie also thanked the U.S. Coast Guard, San Francisco Police Department, Oakland police and fire crews for assisting in the operation.
As of the night of July 14, three people were still missing and crews continued to search the water. The boat, a 49-foot cabin cruiser named Volare and registered out of Stockton, California, departed from the St. Francis Yacht Club before capsizing, authorities said.
"This search will go on for some time," a San Francisco fire official said during a news briefing.
Authorities updated the initial number of missing people from two to three after hearing from witnesses. The search extended to the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge, involving divers, helicopters and vessels, and was expected to continue all night.
Fire Lt. Mariano Elias said the vessel, described as a "pontoon pleasure boat," was about 600 yards (about 550 meters) from Alcatraz and the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m.
All those rescued were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina, a small craft harbor in San Francisco. 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 accident occurred about 600 yards off Alcatraz Island, a former federal prison known for its strong currents and cold waters, now a popular tourist destination that sees about 1.2 million visits a year, according to the National Park Service. The area is frequently used by recreational boaters, but conditions around Alcatraz can change rapidly. The search extended to the open ocean west of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The boat, believed to have launched from a local yacht club, was carrying mostly family members for a memorial service, according to Chief Crispen. The vessel was a 50-foot cabin cruiser named Volare, based out of Stockton, California. Alcatraz Island, located about a mile from San Francisco's shoreline, is notorious for its dangerous currents that historically made escape from the prison nearly impossible.
Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare when it was hit by a wave, causing it to capsize. The deceased was identified on Wednesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa. The three hospitalized survivors were expected to be released later Tuesday.
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."
One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.
Jarod Toczko, the commander for U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, told reporters that the decision to suspend the search was not easy, but his teams swept through 950 square nautical miles over 23 hours and haven't found the missing people or the boat. "We have completely saturated the search area," he said. "We always hold out hope," he later added. Toczko praised the work of the Good Samaritans who jumped to save the passengers. "No question, no doubt...those people saved lives," he said.
Toczko told reporters that there was a "high possibility that individuals could have been trapped in the vessel."
Search teams were using thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling to guide their efforts, the department said Wednesday. Sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people lose dexterity in minutes, which can be dangerous or deadly when trying to escape a sinking watercraft. Some of the swells on the bay were up to 5 feet (1.5 meters), said Lt. Joseph England of the Richmond Police Department, who responded to the scene. "The wind was coming underneath the Golden Gate and blowing toward Alcatraz," England said Wednesday. "If you have a smaller vessel and you don't know what you're doing and you're hitting those swells sideways, it can lead to disaster." There was no small watercraft advisory at the time, which would warn boaters about weather hazards. Conditions on the bay weren't unusual, with winds around 17 mph (27 kph), said Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. "There weren't any factors at play as far as the weather goes," Gass said Wednesday. The US Coast Guard is leading a search and rescue effort with an 87-foot (26-meter) cutter named the Barra.
San Francisco Recreation and Parks confirmed that the boat was captained by John Boisa, 62, who is the deceased's younger brother. According to their brother, Ralph, Clifford's wife, Jackie, and their sister, Carol, are among the three people who remain missing.
Ralph Boisa, 77, whose daughter Yvonne Thatcher was on the boat with her husband and three kids, said some family members were inside the boat's cabin when it took on the wave and quickly lost stability. Thatcher told her father that she was with Clifford, his wife, Jackie, and a third woman in the enclosed space. "She managed to get to the door and get out, just before the boat fully went under," Ralph said.
The owner of the Volare was listed as John Edward Boisa of Stockton, in San Joaquin County, the brother of Clifford Boisa, who was at the helm at the time it capsized. He told CBS News Bay Area the three passengers still missing are his sister, Carol Boisa, his sister-in-law — Clifford's wife, Jackie Boisa, and a friend he identified as Tondra. "It's hard to put into words," John Boisa told CBS News Bay Area. "I love my sister. I love Jackie. You know ... Jackie was a part of a group with my sister. I love them all very much. They said Tondra was a new friend, you know, she came on board and I met her for the first time, but she was a kind and fun person." The Boisa family also provided a statement saying, "Everyone involved, all of the loved and cherished family members and friends, are grieving this loss. We want to thank all of you for our privacy at this time."
Clifford Joseph Boisa was identified as a former Sutter County sheriff's deputy. "Reserve Deputy Boisa faithfully served the Sutter County Sheriff's Office and the community from 1987 to 2001," said a sheriff's spokesperson in a statement. "His years of dedicated service and commitment to public safety will not be forgotten."
One fisherman who participated in the rescue, Justin Marceline, described the scene: "It was like Titanic in real life. I mean, there was stuff everywhere, people were banging on the glass, and there's not much you can do except grab the people from the water that are in the water." Marceline said the first person he helped rescue confirmed the outing was for a memorial for a family member. He also noted that most of those on the sinking vessel had life vests on, but not all. "You know, this one lady, she goes 'Don't let me go, I don't know how to swim,' and I was telling her, 'I ain't going to let you go.' And I gripped her and wrangled her in, pretty much," Marceline said. "There was a younger gentleman and he didn't even have a life jacket on, he had just a throwable and I gave him a fishing weight to go try to break the windows over there because people were banging on the windows trying to get out. It was pretty wild seeing that, honestly."
Boater James Smith, who was returning from a fishing trip and saw the rescue, said, "There was people standing up on what was still out of the water, and then I also seen another group of people hanging on to what appeared to be a surf board or a wind surf board, and they were in the water."
The passengers were members of an extended family gathered for a memorial service that included scattering a loved one's ashes in San Francisco Bay, according to a report from The New York Times.
Commercial fishermen Mike Montoya and Justin Marceline, who rushed to help after the vessel went down, described a frantic rescue as passengers fought to escape. "There was even people banging at the windows as they were like filing out, and as soon as people were hitting the water, we were just trying to pick them up as fast as we can," the fishermen told NBC Bay Area. "Some people didn't even have life vests on and they were drowning."
Ralph Boisa, Clifford’s brother, told the Associated Press that his extended family and a few close friends were on his younger brother’s boat Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the life of his daughter who died at age 33 in 2016 and loved to surf. The three people missing are his sister Carol, Clifford’s wife Jackie, and his daughter’s friend, he said. “We’ve gone through a lot of tragedy over the years,” said Boisa, who lost his other daughter in 1995. He lives in Washington and couldn’t make it for the excursion.
The boat did not depart from St Francis Yacht Club, as authorities originally said, but instead left from an adjacent marina. In a Wednesday social media post, the yacht club also clarified that none of its members had been onboard. “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. After leaving the marina, the boat passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island state park in the bay before the apparent return trip, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder. Angel Island, the largest natural island in the bay, is known for sweeping views of the city.
Once the boat is located, officials will send either divers or an underwater drone to determine if it’s feasible to salvage it, said San Francisco police commander Brien Hoo. If the boat is under 120 ft (37m) of water, it would be difficult for divers to get to it, he said.
As the search for the three missing individuals continues through the night, authorities are investigating the cause of the capsizing. The community mourns the loss of life and hopes for the safe return of those still missing. However, the Coast Guard announced it would suspend search operations at sundown Wednesday after covering 950 square nautical miles over 23 hours without finding the missing people or the boat. Overall, crews spent a total of 54 combined hours searching for the missing people, the Coast Guard said in a statement late Wednesday announcing the search had been suspended.
