SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 (San Francisco News Online) — San Francisco fire crews rescued people from the water near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday after a pontoon boat capsized, and one rescued person required CPR as search teams looked for people still unaccounted for, officials said.
San Francisco Fire Lt. Mariano Elias said the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m., when the pontoon pleasure boat was about 600 yards from Alcatraz. Fire Chief Dean Crispen said crews later found a three-deck vessel carrying 19 people.
Crispen said the incident was first reported as a fire, but officials did not have evidence that one occurred. He said the person who died had been pulled from the water and died later, and that a dog on the boat also died.
Fire crews deployed divers, helicopters and 11 vessels, Crispen said, with help from the U.S. Coast Guard and Oakland police. Mayor Daniel Lurie called it an “all-hands-on-deck search and, hopefully, rescue.”
People pulled from the water were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina. KTVU reported that 13 of them were later brought to a family reunification center at Fort Mason, where the Human Services Agency and American Red Cross were providing services.
