3 killed, 4 injured as boat capsizes off Catalina Island

Three people were killed and four others were injured, one critically, when their 15-foot boat capsized Saturday on the “backside’’ of Catalina Island, authorities said.

Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the area at 9:32 a.m., according to a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher.

A witness reported that a 15-foot skiff with seven people on board had overtued 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 four to 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 county Fire Department paramedics took the other three people to area hospitals, Kneen said.

One of the survivors was listed in critical condition, according to Los Angeles County lifeguards.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives were investigating the case, according to Deputy Grace Medrano of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.