Search suspended for 3 missing after boat with family spreading ashes capsizes on San Francisco Bay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. Coast Guard crews suspended their search late Wednesday for three people missing a day after a boat capsized in the cold, choppy waters of San Francisco Bay while carrying 20 family members and friends who went out to scatter the ashes of a loved one.

“Suspending a search is one of the hardest parts of our job and our condolences are with the families of all involved,” U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jared S. Toczko said in a statement.

Ralph Boisa said his extended family and a few close friends were on his younger brother's boat Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the life of his daughter who died over a decade ago and was in her 30s.

His older brother, Clifford, died shortly after being pulled out of the water. Sixteen others were rescued as the cabin cruiser was hit by a wave, took on water, listed heavily to one side and rolled over before sinking. Clifford's dog also died.

The three people missing are his sister Carol, Clifford's wife Jackie, and his daughter's friend, he said.

“We’ve gone through a lot of tragedy over the years,” said Boisa, who lost his other daughter in 1995. He lives in Washington and couldn't make it for the excursion.

Crews searched more than 814 square miles (2,108.3 square kilometers), according to the Coast Guard, and suspended their search “pending further developments.”

Toczko previously said he would not dismiss the possibility that those missing could still be alive, though he also said some could have been trapped inside the three-deck, 49-foot (15-meter) cabin cruiser.

“We do know individuals were in the main deck and potentially below deck," he said. Witnesses described seeing people pounding on glass windows, trapped as the boat sank.

Crews have identified the location the boat sank but have yet to determine how deep it sank, Toczko said.

Once the boat is located, officials will send either divers or an underwater drone to determine if it's feasible to salvage it, said San Francisco Police Commander Brien Hoo. If the boat is under 120 feet (37 meters) of water, it would be difficult for divers to get to it, he said.

Witnesses reported “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Department Chief Dean Crispen said, and rescuers said swells reached up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Marine weather conditions, however, didn't warrant a small craft advisory from the National Weather Service.

Fire department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias said the vessel, named Volare, was registered out of Stockton, California, which sits at the eastern edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

According to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder, the boat departed a San Francisco marina, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island State Park, the largest natural island in the bay. It was on its way back to San Francisco when it sank near Alcatraz, the famous maximum-security federal prison which closed more than 60 years ago.

Kirk Miller, an experienced local sailor with a master mariner license, said an uneven distribution of passengers could have caused the Volare to tip.

“As it rocks in the waves, it leans over a little bit,” Miller said. “And as it leans over, the stability would decrease. If you had weight down below it acts as ballast. There was nothing in the conditions that were extreme in any regard. There was no massive gust of wind, no huge wave.”

Two men who jumped into action while fishing for halibut said the boat that sank was more than capable of being out in the bay. Justin Marceline and Michael Montoya said they saw what they thought was smoke and arrived to find the vessel halfway submerged.

“We just started yanking people out,” Marceline told The Associated Press. At least two people bobbed in the water without life jackets, while others clung to a windsurfer’s board.

Marceline could see people trapped inside the rapidly sinking boat through its windows. He threw lead fishing weights to survivors in the water, hoping they could smash the glass, but they were too weak.

“It was like Titanic in real life,” he said. “There was stuff everywhere. People were banging on the glass.”

Montoya estimated they pulled eight or nine people aboard, including the captain, before first responders arrived.

Initial callers reported what appeared to be smoke coming from the boat, but San Francisco police officers who first reached the vessel said it was steam.

Toczko said there were life jackets onboard the boat and that some people were rescued wearing them.

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. That can be dangerous or deadly when trying to escape a sinking watercraft.

The owners of the boat are John Boisa and Miriam Boisa of Stockton, Coast Guard records show. They did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

“All of us are grieving during this time,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ralph Boisa said his brother John is a “very capable and experienced boatsman” who served in the U.S. Navy. He frequently took family members out on the boat to the San Francisco Bay, Boisa said.

His older brother who died, Clifford Boisa, 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. Ralph Boisa had planned to visit him for his 80th birthday party next month.

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

Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Ed White in Detroit; Hallie Golden in Seattle; and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.

First responders stand near a body after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A police boat passes Alcatraz Island as search and rescue operations continue for victims of a Tuesday boat sinking on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

People cover themselves with American Red Cross blankets at Fort Mason, where the Red Cross has set up an assistance center for people impacted by a boat incident in the waters off San Francisco Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

A body is covered with a tarp on a dock near the site of boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A U.S. Coast Guard crew goes past Alcatraz Island near the site of a pontoon boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A San Francisco Fire Department vessel passes the city skyline while searching for missing victims after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A body is covered with a tarp on a dock near the site of boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A helicopter flies past the Golden Gate Bridge while searching for missing victims after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Pakistan fielded a new-look team but the same old problems resurfaced as it plunged to 100-7 at lunch after being put into bat by England in the third and final cricket test at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

The touring team, which caused a major surprise by sending seven players home after its second-test defeat at Lord's, plus the head coach and the bowling coach, made four changes to the side but the batters were all at sea yet again.

England claimed a first breakthrough when the recalled Saim Ayub was trapped lbw for a duck to give quick bowler Ollie Robinson his 100th test wicket.

Jofra Archer then forced Azan Awais into offering mid-on fielder Josh Tongue a low, diving catch off a leading edge.

Abdullah Shafique was next to go, caught low down by Dan Lawrence at third slip off Robinson.

Shan Masood became the fourth wicket to fall when he lobbed the ball to mid-wicket off fast bowler Archer following a poor cross-bat stroke.

Fellow paceman Tongue then removed Pakistan captain Babar Azam before dismissing debutants Ghazi Ghori and Imran Randhawa, lbw and clean bowled respectively.

Saud Shakeel, who made a fighting 97 in a losing cause at Lord's, was the one shining light for Pakistan as he reached lunch on 37 not out. Razaullah Khan, another debutant, was unbeaten on 11.

England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series after beating Pakistan by 194 runs at Lord's.

See AP’s full cricket coverage here

England's Josh Tongue appeals unsuccessfully, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

England's Jofra Archer, left, celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Azan Awais, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

Pakistan's Azan Awais walks off the pitch, after being dismissed by England's Jofra Archer, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

England's Ollie Robinson celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Abdullah Shafique, caught out by Dan Lawrence, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

England's Josh Tongue, right, celebrates the wicket of Pakistan's Ghazi Ghori, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)

England's Ollie Robinson appeals, during day one of the third cricket test match between England and Pakistan, at Edgbaston, in Birmingham, England, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP)