SAN FRANCISCO, July 15 (San Francisco News Online) — San Francisco fire crews rescued multiple people from a pontoon boat near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday afternoon and kept searching for missing passengers after one person required CPR, officials said.
Lt. Mariano Elias of the San Francisco Fire Department said the emergency call came in just after 3:30 p.m. about a pontoon pleasure boat roughly 600 yards from Alcatraz. He said at least one rescued person needed CPR.
Chief Dean Crispen said crews later found a three-deck pontoon vessel carrying 19 people. He said the incident was first reported as a fire, but officials found no evidence of flames. Crispen said one person who had been pulled from the water later died, and one dog on the boat died as well.
Rescue teams used divers, helicopters and 11 vessels, Crispen said. The U.S. Coast Guard and Oakland police also helped in the response, and rescued passengers were taken to Gashouse Cove Marina.
Mayor Daniel Lurie said, “We are in an active search,” and called it “an all-hands-on-deck search and, hopefully, rescue.” Officials said the search continued for missing people as crews worked the water near San Francisco Bay.