One person died, two others remained missing and 16 people were rescued after a three-deck pontoon pleasure boat carrying 19 people capsized in the waters near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon, prompting a large-scale search involving divers, helicopters and multiple rescue vessels.
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San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said emergency crews found the vessel overturned and almost completely submerged when they reached the scene. "It was a vessel that was capsized and mostly under the water," Crispen said.
Authorities said the person who later died was among those pulled from the water along with the 16 survivors. Several of those rescued suffered injuries after falling into the water, but there were no reports of burn injuries.
Search operations continued late into the afternoon for the two missing people, with rescue teams deploying divers, helicopters and 11 vessels. "Right now we are in full rescue mode," Crispen said.
The incident was initially reported as a boat fire, but officials later ruled out that possibility. "We now don't have any evidence of that," Crispen said.
Fire Lieutenant Mariano Elias said the emergency call was received shortly after 3.30 pm local time. The pontoon pleasure boat was about 600 yards, or roughly 550 metres, from Alcatraz Island when it overturned.
Crispen said the boat is believed to have departed from an area near the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco.
All 16 survivors were brought ashore at Gashouse Cove Marina, a small craft harbour in San Francisco, where emergency responders attended to them. Television footage from the scene showed fire department rescue boats surrounding the largely submerged vessel, with debris floating nearby. Live images also showed a man and a woman wrapped in blankets as they sat near an ambulance after being rescued.
The US Coast Guard and Oakland police assisted the San Francisco Fire Department in the rescue operation as authorities continued efforts to locate the two people still unaccounted for.
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