Trapped And Banging On The Windows: Survivors Grapple With SF Bay Tragedy As Search For The Missing Ends

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Rescuers described the scene as "Titanic in real life."

The heads of several survivors bobbed in the water, many not wearing life jackets, while others clung onto what they could, including a nearby windsurfer's board.

Next to them, a large 49-foot three-deck cabin cruiser was tipped over on its side. It was halfway submerged and emitting steam. They could see some people were still trapped inside.

"We just started yanking people out," Justin Marceline, who was fishing for halibut at the time, told the Associated Press. "There was stuff everywhere. "People were banging on the glass."

There were 20 people aboard the boat that Tuesday afternoon.

Sixteen were rescued from the bay 600 yards from Alcatraz Island just before 3:37 p.m. One man, identified as 79-year-old Clifford Boisa of Sutter County, died in the accident, along with a dog, authorities said. Three, meanwhile, remained unaccounted for.

For 54 combined hours, authorities held out hope of finding the three missing people. Several response crews made up of local agencies and the Coast Guard scoured more than 950 square miles of the bay floor looking for them, authorities said.

But they couldn't find them, and the Coast Guard on Wednesday night announced it had suspended the search, "pending further developments."

"Suspending a search is one of the hardest parts of our job and our condolences are with the families of all involved," Capt. Jarod Toczko, commander with the Coast Guard's San Francisco sector, said in a statement. "We appreciate the support and dedication from our partner agencies and local mariners who rushed on scene to rescue 20 individuals in distress."

Memorial Trip

Three generations of the Boisa family set out aboard the Volare that Tuesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

John Boisa, the captain of the boat, invited his family on the boat once each year for the same venture, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

But this time was different. They were there to honor a family member from the Bay Area who had died in 1995, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and Associated Press.

The Boisa family spent a lovely day enjoying a breeze-filled morning and passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

They would stop for an afternoon at Angel Island before heading back to San Francisco, where the boat captain, John Boisa, had reserved a spot to dock, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The family was crossing one of the deepest parts of the bay when, according to the United States Coast Guard, the cabin cruiser was hit by a wave, causing it to take on water. The cruiser then listed heavily onto its side and rolled over before sinking.

Most passengers were outside on the deck while the rest sat in a wood-paneled cabin, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

When the wave struck, many people were thrown overboard, the United States Coast Guard said.

Those inside were thrown on their backs, and another was struck in the head with a random object, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

"They didn’t see or hear anything," said Ralph Boisa, who didn't make the family trip but described the incident through his daughter’s account. "They’re sitting, and all of a sudden the boat went over."

Rescue crews described seeing a man in distress when they got to the scene of the accident. It was Clifford.

Authorities say they pulled him out of the water and took him to a local hospital, where he died.

Clifford lived on a small prune orchard in Sutter County in the Sacramento Valley and was a volunteer sheriff's deputy for more than a decade.

"He was a happy guy, jovial," Ralph said. “We're pretty broken up here."

Recovery Mission

The captain of the Volare, John, is a "very capable and experienced boatsman," who served in the U.S. Navy, his brother Ralph said.

Authorities, meanwhile, are trying to piece together what went wrong for the family.

Although the wave is being looked at as a factor, Randell Sharpe, a marine accident investigator in the Bay Area, told the New York Times that, based on the news images of the vessel, overcrowding could have also contributed.

That extra weight could have made it more likely to capsize, Sharpe told the New York Times.

And sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people lose dexterity in minutes, according to authorities. That can be dangerous or deadly when trying to escape a sinking watercraft, even when wearing a life jacket.

For now, authorities are turning their attention towards trying to recover the boat from the ocean floor. But that won't be without its difficulties, they said.

Authorities say they know the last location of the boat and where it sank, but a boat doesn't sink straight down; instead, it moves with the currents.

They'll have to relocate it and send an underwater drone to check out whether it is structurally sound enough to remove or if removing it is even an option, authorities said.

The area where the boat sank is also too deep for divers to check out, about 130 feet in depth, according to authorities.

If the boat can be raised, authorities will have to look for a specialized company that can safely help remove it.

"This hasn't happened as long as I can remember," Brien Hoo, commander of the special operations bureau in San Francisco, said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "So we're definitely going to have all hands on deck to think about how we're going to safely recover the boat and also with the safety of our divers."

OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and JAIMIE DING of The Associated Press contributed to this report.