One person is confirmed dead while three others have gone missing after a private yacht capsized in California's San Francisco Bay in the afternoon (local time) of Tuesday, July 14.
The US Coast Guard said that 20 people were reported to be aboard the vessel and that response crews have recovered 17 people from the water. One person has been confirmed deceased.
At 15:20 on Tuesday, Coast Guard Sector San Francisco received report of a fire aboard a 49-foot (15-metre) cabin cruiser vessel with 19 passengers aboard. The number of persons on board was later updated to 20.
Upon arriving on-scene, first responders were able to determine the reported fire was steam and the vessel was sinking.
Coast guard crews from Air Station San Francisco, Station San Francisco and Station Golden Gate responded to the incident, alongside the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Fire Department, the Oakland Fire Department, the Tiburon Fire Department and the Marin County Sheriff’s Office.
A number of Good Samaritan fishing boats also assisted in the rescue effort.
The US Coast Guard ordered the suspension of the search operation on Wednesday, July 15, a little over 24 hours after the capsizing occurred. By then, the coast guard and partner agencies had already combed an area covering more than 950 square nautical miles.
Captain Jarod Toczko, commander of Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said that the yacht's three missing occupants may have become trapped inside the vessel