SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 (San Francisco News Online) — San Francisco fire crews and other agencies continued searching Tuesday after a pontoon boat incident near Alcatraz Island left multiple people in the water and at least one person needing CPR, San Francisco Fire Lt. Mariano Elias said.
Officials gave changing counts as the response unfolded, but said crews rescued people from the water and were still looking for missing person or people. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said, “We are in an active search,” and called it an “all-hands-on-deck search and, hopefully, rescue.”
Fire Chief Dean Crispen said crews found a three-deck pontoon vessel carrying 19 people. He said the incident was first reported as a fire, but officials later said they had no evidence of a fire.
Crispen said the boat was believed to have launched near the St. Francis Yacht Club. Elias said the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m., when the vessel was about 600 yards from Alcatraz.
Crispen said divers, helicopters and 11 vessels joined the search, with help from the U.S. Coast Guard and Oakland police. People pulled from the water were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina, and KTVU reported that a family reunification center was set up at Fort Mason with help from the Human Services Agency and the American Red Cross.
