Two dead, two missing in boating mishap

Two people were found dead this morning after a boating accident near Tomales Bay in Marin County and two more are missing, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Coast Guard officials received a call around 7:30 p.m. Friday that a 21-foot pleasure craft with four people aboard had not returned from an all-day outing, Coast Guard Lt. j.g. Amanda Faulkner said.

The boat left at 5 a.m. and was expected to return at 5 p.m., Faulkner said. When the boaters didn’t return, the sister and girlfriend of the boat’s owner called the Coast Guard to report it missing.

Around 10 a.m. this morning, Faulkner said Coast Guard personnel found one person dead on the shoreline at Bird Rock and found another person in a debris field off of Tomales Point.

Emergency crews also found an engine in the debris field that authorities believe is from the missing boat, Faulkner said.

Crews are still actively searching for two more people, she said.

The decedents’ identities have not been confirmed, she said.

Faulkner said Coast Guard crews did not receive a distress signal from the vessel and said officials don’t have any information at this time about what happened to the boat.