Santa Cruz boat: 34 passengers presumed dead as authorities call off search for survivors of the fire
A tragic Mayday call from the captain of a boat which caught fire off the coast of California described how all of his passengers were trapped below deck "with no escape hatch".
Audio of the harrowing distress call was released as authorities confirmed 34 people are presumed dead and the search for survivors was suspended on Tuesday.
In the 3.14 am recording, the captain can be heard telling a Coast Guard operator: "There's 33 people on board the vessel on fire. They can't get off."
The operator can be heard frantically asking for more information and the location of the boat, asking "are they locked inside the boat? ... You don't have any firefighter gear at all, no fire extinguishers or anything?"
Most of the captain's responses are inaudible, except for the words: "I can't breathe."
The commercial diving vessel, called the Conception, was on a three-day diving expedition when the fire occurred. The 75-foot vessel had been anchored in Platt's Harbor, about 20 yards off the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island.
It had been on a trip to the Channel Islands during Labor Day weekend, a public holiday, when it became engulfed in flames with 39 people on board - 33 passengers and six crew members.
The captain was among five crew members who were able to escape when the blaze began around 3am on Monday morning but the other passengers were trapped in the sleeping quarters below deck.
The crew members sought refuge on a fishing boat moored nearby, banging on the side to wake up Bob Hansen and his wife Shirley, who were sleeping onboard.
"When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern," Mr Hansen told the New York Times. "There were these explosions every few beats. You can't prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous."
The Hansens said the men were distraught, some dressed in just their underwear. One said he had a girlfriend below deck and another had a broken leg.
The sobbing crew described how they had celebrated three passengers' birthdays hours earlier, including that of a 17-year-old girl who was on the trip with her parents.
"When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern," Mr Hansen told the New York Times. "There were these explosions every few beats. You can't prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous."
Two of the men paddled back to attempt to search for survivors but found none.
Officials have not named the victims but among those feared dead is Micheal Kohls, the crew cook, and Kristy Finstad, 41, the diving expedition leader, whose families have both named them among the missing.
Mr Kohls' brother James said he was still awaiting news of his brother's fate on Tuesday. Brett Harmeling, the brother of Ms Finstad, said in a Facebook post there was "no final word" on her fate, but that she had "likely transitioned to be with the good Lord."
"She's done this trip hundreds of times," he told the New York Daily News. "She's a very strong, strong woman...but they've been searching for a long time already."
Ms Finstad had organised the expedition with her husband, Dan Chua, through their family-owned company, Worldwide Diving Adventures, which chartered the Conception.
Mr Chua was leading a separate diving expedition in Costa Rica at the time of the fire, according to Mr Harmeling.
Two of the passengers are thought to be students at the Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz.
Bill Brown, the Santa Barbara County sheriff, said in a press conference Tuesday that the bodies of 20 victims have been recovered and divers have seen between and four and six others in the sunken wreckage.
He said authorities are trying to stabilise the boat which has sunk in about 60 feet of water before the divers can recover those remains.
Mr Brown said the recovered remains include 11 females and nine males, most of which need to be identified using DNA samples collected from family members.
Firemen in helicopters, small boats and a US Coast Guard cutter spent hours tackling the blaze but it was so intense that it kept relighting after appearing to have been extinguished, perhaps due to the fuel on board.
Details about the fire are still emerging and the cause is still being investigated. Mr Brown said the surviving crew members have submitted written statements and will be interviewed later on Tuesday.
He said it appears that the berthing quarters exit and an escape hatch were blocked by the fire, and there is no indication anyone who was below decks was able to escape.
Mr Brown said explosions a witness reported happened after the fire was underway and could have been scuba or propane tanks exploding.
Monica Rochester, a US Coast Guard captain, said in a brief news conference that the vessel eventually sank in 64 feet of water, but its bow was still visible above the waterline.
“It is never an easy decision to suspend search efforts," she said. "We know this is a very difficult time for family and friends of the victims.”
The Conception was operated by Worldwide Diving Adventures, a respected Santa Barbara-based company that says on its website it has been taking divers on expeditions since 1972.
Asked if the boat operator has a history of any violations, Ms Rochester said: "The vessel has been in full compliance." The Conception had departed at 4am on Saturday with plans to return at 5pm on Monday.
US Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who represents California, has said safety procedures should be reviewed.
"It's inconceivable that with all the safety regulations we have in place today, a fire on a boat can lead to the loss of life we saw this morning," she said in a statement.
"And we need to understand exactly how the crew was trained and, if they were awake and above-deck, why they were unable to alert or help rescue passengers."
