All of the people missing after a dive boat went up in flames early Monday are presumed dead.
The Coast Guard suspended its search for the remaining missing people Tuesday afternoon.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the bodies of 20 victims have been recovered, and four to six others were seen in the ship’s wreckage, which is currently unsafe. DNA will be used to identify the remains of 11 females and nine males that were recovered, Brown said.
Earlier Tuesday, Commander Jay Donovan of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said nine people are still missing.
Thirty-nine people were aboard the vessel, named the Conception, when it caught fire. The boat had been on a three-day diving excursion and was set to return to the Santa Barbara Harbor at about 5 p.m. on Labor Day.
Only five people, all crew members, were able to escape the blaze when they jumped into an inflatable life raft and were later picked up by another vessel owned by Bob and Shirley Hansen.
Bob Hansen described hearing pounding on the side of his fishing boat, “The Grape Escape,” at 3:30 a.m. “When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern,” he said. “I could see the fire coming through holes on the side of the boat. There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.”
The Conception was docked just 20 yards from shore when a fire broke out around 3 a.m. Monday morning about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles near Santa Cruz Island.
Authorities and the National Transportation Safety Board are said to be investigating the cause of the fire.
