SANTA BARBARA: Officials said on Tuesday that 34 people died after a boat packed with scuba divers caught fire near an island off the southern California coast and they have called off search efforts for survivors.

The Coast Guard and law enforcement said no one has been found alive after flames tore through the dive boat early on Monday as passengers on a recreational scuba diving trip slept below deck.

The Conception carried 33 passengers and 6 crew members, and only five of the crew sleeping on the top deck were able to escape by jumping off and taking a small boat to safety. Investigators have not yet determined how the fire broke out.

Santa Barbara County Bill Brown said the bodies of 20 victims have been recovered and divers have seen between four and six others in the sunken wreckage. He said authorities are trying to stabilize the boat that sank in about 60 feet (18 meters) of water so divers can recover those remains.

Most need to be identified by DNA analysis and officials are collecting samples from family members, Brown said.

One passenger, marine biologist and veteran diver Kristy Finstad, 41, was identified in a Facebook post by her brother, Brett Harmeling of Houston. “Please pray for my sister Kristy!! She was leading a dive trip on this boat,” Harmeling wrote.

The missing and dead were among 39 passengers and crew who had departed Santa Barbara Harbour on Saturday aboard the boat for a Labour Day weekend trip.

The fire broke out about 3am. Monday as the Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, about 90 miles (145 kilometres) west of Los Angeles. The crew appeared to quickly call for help.

“The call was garbled, it was not that clear, but we were able to get some information out of it to send vessels,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney said.

Capt. Paul Amaral of the vessel assistance company TowBoatUS also launched a fast boat from Ventura Harbour, but it was some 30 miles (48 kilometres) away. By the time it got there around 5 a.m., a Coast Guard helicopter and a fireboat were on scene.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2019