Some further details have emerged in Tuesday's tragic sinking incident on San Francisco Bay, which involved a 49-foot cabin cruiser boat with 20 people and a dog onboard.
The group of 20 adults were reportedly all friends and family taking part in a memorial, and they may have been in the process or preparing to scatter someone's ashes in the Bay when tragedy struck.
The boat, which some experienced captains have already said should never have been on the Bay in Tuesday's conditions, if at all, was reportedly struck by a wave before it sank, causing it to take on water. Within minutes, the boat began sinking before any distress call could be made.
16 people were rescued and survived, while one 79-year-old man and a dog both perished. The man has been identified as Clifford Boisa, as the Chronicle reports. The captain and owner of the boat was Boisa's younger brother, 62-year-old Stockton resident John Boisa.
Three people remain missing, and authorities say they are not sure if they were swept out into the water, or if their remains could still be in the cabin of the boat, which is now at the bottom of the Bay in one of its deepest parts, about 120 feet down.
As the Chronicle reports, the boat, a three-deck cabin cruiser named Volare, had traveled into the Bay from Stockton on Saturday and was moored at the San Francisco Marina Yacht Harbor. An acquaintance of Boisa told the Chronicle that Boisa frequently took the boat out on the Bay.
Wind conditions Tuesday afternoon reportedly featured gusts of up to 30 miles per hour, and video from the scene showed choppy water near Alcatraz.
Captain Rod Mayer, a sailboat operator who runs charters on the Bay, tells the SF Standard that there were three-foot waves on the Bay Tuesday afternoon, and conditions were "really rolly." He adds that the stability of the power boat could have been compromised if the captain and crew were not being vigilant about the weight distribution of passengers.
There is also a question about whether everyone in the group was wearing a life jacket at the time of the sinking. Life jackets would be required on any commercial charter on the Bay, but the Chronicle reports that some of the survivors were seen wearing jackets labeled with the name of one of the rescue vessels, and some were seen in the water without life preservers.
Three of the survivors who were taken to CPMC Van Ness for medical treatment have been released as of Wednesday morning, per the Chronicle.
On social media, Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote, "The work our first responders have done so far today has been nothing short of heroic." He thanked the SF police and fire departments along with the Coast Guard, Oakland and Richmond police, Tiburon firefighters, the Southern Marin Fire Protection District for their help.
The search and rescue effort for the three missing people was ongoing as of Wednesday morning.
Previously: Three Missing, at Least One Dead After Boat Sinks Near Alcatraz
Top image: Photo via Richmond Police Department
