1 dead and 3 missing after boat carrying mostly family members sinks
near Alcatraz Island
[July 15, 2026]
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — One person died, three people were missing and 16
were rescued from the waters off San Francisco after a pontoon boat sank
Tuesday afternoon while carrying mostly family members as part of a
memorial service, authorities said.
Crews arriving on the scene near Alcatraz Island found a three-deck
pontoon vessel almost fully under water with the motor still running and
leaking fuel, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said.
By Tuesday evening, authorities were searching for the missing in open
ocean on the western side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The search, which
involved divers, helicopters and vessels, was expected to continue all
night, officials said.
Authorities updated the initial number of missing people from two to
three after hearing from witnesses.
“Right now we are in full rescue mode,” Crispen said, adding that three
people who suffered injuries falling from the boat were taken to a
hospital and expected to be released Tuesday night.
Alcatraz Island, once a federal prison infamously inescapable due to the
strong ocean currents and cold Pacific waters that surround it, is now a
tourist destination. It is located in San Francisco Bay about a mile
(about 1.6 kilometers) north of the city's shoreline, in an often windy
area that attracts sailboats and other recreational vessels.
Videos of the scene showed boats deployed to rescue people who had been
on the vessel, which was largely submerged with objects floating nearby.
The boating mishap was initially reported as a fire, “but we now don’t
have any evidence of that,” Crispen said.
The person who died was alive when plucked from the frigid waters by
rescue crews but later died. A dog onboard also died.
All those rescued were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina, a small craft
harbor in San Francisco.
Aaron Anfinson, captain of the Bass-Tub, told the San Francisco
Chronicle his boat was carrying guests toward the Golden Gate Bridge in
“pretty windy, a little choppy” waters when a man on a smaller vessel
flagged them down and pointed to a pontoon boat in the middle of the bay
that appeared to be on fire.
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A San Francisco Fire Department vessel passes the city skyline while
searching for missing victims after a boat accident near Alcatraz
Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah
Berger)
By the time the Bass-Tub reached it, the flames were out, but the
pontoon was sinking. Some people were already in the water while
others remained aboard, Anfinson said, adding that they tried to
hand out life jackets to the passengers.
One woman's head was injured.
“We figured we would get her first,” Anfinson said. A deckhand
lowered a swim ladder and threw a life ring into the water to help
pull her aboard.
“It was scary,” Anfinson said. “I don’t want to see anybody in that
situation.”
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.
Crispen said the vessel was believed to have launched near the St.
Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco. A person who answered the phone
there said the club did not have any information on what happened.
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 Coast Guard and Oakland police also helped in the rescue, Elias
said.
___
Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California,
Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Hallie Golden in Seattle, and
photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
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