Three people were rescued last week after the boat they were on near Stinson Beach caught fire, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

On Friday, a distress call came in from a good Samaritan who saw smoke coming from a vessel about 5 miles west of Stinson Beach that also had a person aboard waving their arms, the Coast Guard said.

The 32-foot boat was also taking on water.

As Coast Guard crews assembled, a good Samaritan vessel rescued all three people from the endangered craft, which subsequently sank.

The vessel’s master reported that the vessel began taking on water rapidly through the stern engine compartment before sinking.

The Coast Guard arrived and transferred the three boaters into a motor lifeboat, though none of them required medical attention. They were then returned to their original point of departure.

The exact cause of the fire and sinking remains under investigation.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.