One person has died and three others are missing after a pontoon boat capsized in the waters near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
According to local authorities, the incident was reported at around 3:37 p.m. local time, when the San Francisco Fire Department received a report of a boat in distress. A rescue team that arrived at the scene found one person in the water in critical condition.
Fire Chief Dean Crispen said there were about 20 people on the boat, mostly members of the same family, who were attending a memorial service.
Three other people were injured and taken to hospital, where their lives are out of danger, while 13 passengers were rescued without injury.
The search and rescue operation continued throughout the evening by teams from the San Francisco Fire Department and the United States Coast Guard, to find three missing people.
Authorities initially reported a boat on fire, but upon arrival at the scene, no signs of fire were found. Witnesses said the sea was rough and the boat began to fill with water before capsizing.
Justin Marceline, a coastal area worker who helped rescue several people along with fisherman Mike Montoya, described the scene as "complete chaos."
"Every time we caught a person, they were either exhausted or scared and moving quickly," Marceline told Reuters.
