3 Killed, 4 Injured When Boat Capsizes Off Catalina Island

CATALINA ISLAND, CA - Three people were killed and four others were critically injured when their 15-foot boat capsized Saturday on the "backside" of Catalina Island, authorities said.

Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the location at 9:32 a.m., according to a county fire department dispatcher.

A witness reported that a 15-foot skiff with seven people on board had overturned near Salta Verde Point on the backside of the island, according to Sondra-Kay Kneen of the U.S. Coast Guard. Waves in the area were reported to be between four and six feet.

A good Samaritan rescued two boaters from the water and reported seeing another boater on the rocks. A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the person from the rocks, Kneen said.

Baywatch Isthmus and Baywatch Avalon recovered three bodies from the water, and a Catalina Island Conservancy officer located the seventh person on the beach, she said.

The Coast Guard transported one person to Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics took the other three people to area hospitals, Kneen said.

The four survivors were critically injured, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

— City News Service