The passengers aboard the pleasure boat that capsized near Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay on Tuesday had gathered for a deeply personal farewell: a celebration of life for a family member who died by suicide 10 years ago.
Ralph Boisa, one of the passengers, told the San Francisco Standard that relatives had set out on the cruise to scatter the ashes of his adoptive daughter, Maria, who took her own life in 2016.
Because Maria loved surfing, her family chose the cold waters near Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay as the place to say their final goodbye.
The outing ended in tragedy. Ralph Boisa’s brother, Cliff Boisa, was killed when the boat overturned, and three other people remain missing. Authorities called off the search for the missing passengers at sundown Wednesday.
The three-level recreational boat sank after it was struck by a wave and capsized in the waters between Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jarod Toczko said the vessel, identified as the Volare, became unstable after the wave hit. The boat “tripped,” rapidly rolled over and then fully submerged.
By the time rescue crews reached the scene around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, the vessel’s two lower decks were already underwater.
The Volare was owned and piloted by John Boisa, the brother of Cliff and Ralph Boisa, and was carrying 20 members of the extended family for the memorial gathering.
Cliff Boisa, 79, of Sutter County, worked as a reserve deputy for the Sutter County Sheriff’s Office from 1987 to 2011.
The three passengers that remained missing were Carol, sister of the Boisa brothers; Cliff’s wife, Jackie; and a friend of Maria’s. The Boisa family said that authorities recovered a female body, according to the Standard.
Officials said the boat launched somewhere near San Francisco’s St. Francis Yacht Club.
The US Coast Guard had initially classified it as a “vessel fire” with 19 people aboard when the sinking began. But as the day progressed, the San Francisco Fire Department said there was no evidence of any fire on the boat.
