Santa Barbara: The search for 34 people who are presumed to be dead after a diving boat caught fire off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, was called off Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The 75-foot commercial vessel called the Conception, carrying 33 passengers and 6 crew members, went up in flames at about 3:30 a.m. Monday, officials said.
“It is never an easy decision to suspend search efforts,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester said during a Tuesday news conference. But no signs of distress had been found during the 24-hour-long search and “we should all be prepared to move into the worst outcome,” she said.
Crews would turn their focus to recovery and investigation to find out “why this incident occurred and what we can learn from this tragedy,” Rochester said. Investigators would also be interviewing the five crew members, including a boat captain, who survived the blaze.
When asked if the called-off search was an indication that the Coast Guard believed everyone on the boat but the five crew members who escaped were dead, Rochester said: “That would be a correct assumption.”
The remains of 20 people — 11 women and 9 men — had been recovered, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said during the latest news conference. Between four and six additional bodies were seen trapped within the wreckage of the boat, but divers were unable to recover them Monday night and would try again Tuesday if they can stabilize the sunken boat and break through the wreckage, Brown said. Divers were working in waters with a depth of 65 feet.
The Conception, operated by Truth Aquatics out of Santa Barbara, was in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Rochester said Monday. The Coast Guard inspects vessels like the Conception annually.
The boat was on a three-day $665 diving excursion “to explore the pinnacles of San Miguel Island,” according to a Truth Aquatics schedule. It departed Saturday morning and was due back Monday evening.
