Coast Guard to suspend Alcatraz boat search for 3 missing
The U.S. Coast Guard will suspend the Coast Guard Alcatraz boat search at sundown Wednesday for three people still missing after a 50-foot cabin cruiser capsized near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday. Officials said crews swept roughly 950 square nautical miles over 23 hours without finding the missing or the vessel.
Key Takeaways
- The Coast Guard will pause active search efforts at sundown Wednesday after covering about 950 square nautical miles in 23 hours.
- Twenty adults were aboard the Stockton-based Volare when it capsized near Alcatraz; 16 were rescued, one died, and three remain missing.
- Clifford Joseph Boisa, 79, of Sutter County, was identified as the fatality; a dog on board also died.
- Officials say there is a high possibility the missing may be trapped inside the sunken craft, which sits about 120 feet deep.
- Passengers were largely family members taking part in a memorial service when the boat was hit by a wave and overturned.
What happened in the San Francisco Bay sinking?
According to ABC7 Bay Area, authorities believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, when it was hit by a wave Tuesday and capsized between Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge area.
San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said crews found a three-deck vessel nearly fully underwater, with the motor still running and leaking fuel. Early reports of a boat fire were later attributed to steam mistaken for smoke; officials confirmed there was no fire aboard.
Sixteen people were rescued and brought to Gashouse Cove Marina. One man was pulled from the water severely injured, received CPR, and was pronounced dead ashore. Three others were hospitalized and later released, Crispen said.
Why is the Coast Guard suspending the search this evening?
Jarod Toczko, commander for U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, told reporters the decision to suspend search operations at sundown Wednesday was not easy. Teams swept 950 square nautical miles over 23 hours and have not found the missing people or the boat.
“We have completely saturated the search area,” Toczko said, adding that crews “always hold out hope.” Until sundown, officials said the mission remains a rescue rather than a recovery operation.
Search teams have used thermal imaging, tide prediction, and modeling. Salvage work has been difficult because the vessel sank in a shipping channel about 120 feet deep—well beyond the roughly 60-foot depth most local divers typically work.
Who was on the Volare, and what remains unknown?
Officials said the 20 passengers were all adults, mostly family members, participating in a memorial service. One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner identified the deceased as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa of Sutter County. A dog also died in the incident.
KCRA and NBC Bay Area reported the Stockton-based Volare was about three stories high and roughly 50 feet long, believed to have launched near the St. Francis Yacht Club. Toczko said there is a “high possibility that individuals could have been trapped in the vessel.”
Officials are still piecing together the exact cause. For more coverage of unfolding cases and unanswered questions, see BlasterPost’s True Crime & Unsolved Mysteries desk.