Bathed in the glare of the flashing blue and white police siren, a crowd stood weary, anxious and waiting, staring into the darkness toward the Sandy Island dock.

It was the near-start of a 19-hour vigil for family and friends of six people who were on their way home when their boat capsized about 10 feet from the shore of isolated, historic Sandy Island.

For hours, the community and friends waited, hoping for the best and expecting the worst.

It was a vigil that would end at 5:25 p.m. Thursday when divers recovered the body of Waccamaw High School senior Rishard Pyatt, 18, one of three people who perished in the boating accident. His cousin Shaquatia Robinson, 19, and her mother, Lou Ann Robinson, 47, also died when the boat went down about 9:45 p.m. Wednesday.

A 9-month-old baby boy was airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and a mother, Tiffany Tucker, and her child survived the accident. The infant's condition was unavailable late Thursday.

Autopsies showed the victims drown and there was no evidence of other injuries, Georgetown County Coroner Kenny Johnson said Friday.

Details emerged Thursday of efforts by residents and emergency workers to rescue those who had been on board.

Samuel Pyatt, a relative, said he and his brother, Charles Pyatt, went to the river to try to rescue people after they heard a boat sank near the island.

He said his brother found the 9-month-old baby floating on a boat seat in the river and took the baby to the mainland for medical attention.

"I went out there to look for survivors," Samuel Pyatt said Thursday. "It was sort of windy and raining, and it got worse as the night went on. It wasn't a good feeling. It's hard to expect the outcome. We didn't know what we would run into. We hoped they were clinging to a tree or a bush, but that didn't occur."

This is the first such tragedy in recent memory near the island, Samuel Pyatt said.

"Morale is very low on the island," Pyatt said. "It's a very small community. It's a sad day."

None of the six family members was wearing a life jacket or knew how to swim, according to Georgetown County Sheriff Lane Cribb.

Rishard Pyatt was the last to be recovered. His body was found about 80 feet from where the 14-foot fiberglass boat capsized.

He and five family members were on the boat late Wednesday when it started to take on water as it made its way from the mainland to the island, which is reachable only by boat for the 21 families who live there.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is expected to search for the boat again today to determine what caused the boat to sink, said Lt. Robert McCullough, with DNR.

A woman who was operating the boat made it to shore with her 5-year-old child and went to a neighbor's home to call for help, according to Coroner Kenny Johnson. The woman was treated and released Thursday morning at Waccamaw Community Hospital. The child wasn't injured.

Waccamaw High School principal David Hammel said the mood was "very somber" at the school Pyatt attended where Shaquatia Robinson had graduated in 2007.

Pyatt is a member of the school's basketball team and a cousin of Shaquatia Robinson. Mike Quinn, his coach and conflict management teacher, said Pyatt's teammates met this morning for about an hour to talk and grieve.

"There is no lesson plan for how you rehearse dealing with an obstacle like this," he said.

Hammel described Pyatt as well respected, popular and full of joy.

Divers pulled Shaquatia Robinson out of the water around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night after searching for more than an hour. The young woman was in cardiac arrest at the time, Johnson said.

"When they pulled her out of the water, they were hopeful they could bring her back to life," he said.

An ambulance rushed Shaquatia Robinson to an area hospital. She was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. Thursday. Preliminary autopsy results show that she drowned, Johnson said.

Shaquatia Robinson's mother, Lou Ann Robinson, was found dead at 8 a.m. Thursday about 300 yards from where the boat sank, Johnson said. An autopsy for Lou Ann Robinson and Rishard Pyatt will be performed today.

Officials were not sure if weather may have played a factor in the accident.

A strong storm passed through the area Wednesday evening, but the brunt of the winds arrived about 30 minutes after the incident, said Ron Steve, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, N.C.

"The storms didn't really get into the Georgetown area until 10:30, but it was windy ahead of those storms," Steve said. "Observations at the Georgetown County airport at 10 p.m. were winds at 17 mph and gusts at 25 mph. It may have been a little stronger than that over water without as many obstacles in the way."

The bulk of the wind and rain from the storm moved through Georgetown County between 10:30 p.m. and 3 a.m., Steve said.

Water temperatures along the Waccamaw River were recorded in the 50s, he said.

A weather service gauge in Winyah Bay at Hobcaw Barony showed the water temperature there at 10 p.m. was 54 degrees.

"When you're in shallow water up the river like that, it can vary some, certainly more than the ocean," Steve said.

Family and friends are left to grieve and remember their loved ones as officials try to piece together what happened on what should have been a routine boat trip home.

"Lou Ann loved to sing gospel and the church," said her cousin Arthur Herriot. "She was a very hardworking woman."

He said she has a son in the military who is on his way back to Georgetown. She also worked at the Hampton Inn.

He received the news at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday at his home in Marion County but said he couldn't wait for daylight to get down to Sandy Island.

"We're more like brothers and sisters," Herriot said. "She could sing beautiful."

Funeral arrangements are pending at McKnight Funeral Home in Georgetown.

Traffic to the island Thursday was restricted to family and residents. Throughout the day, many stopped by on the mainland side as rescuers worked to find Rishard Pyatt.

"Jesus, Jesus," said Margaret Washington, who has relatives on the island. "I think we have to pray for the families."