Coast Guard says no one has been found alive after flames tore through dive boat after Southern California coast.
US 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 United States Coast Guard and law enforcement said no one has been found alive after flames tore through the dive boat early Monday as passengers on a recreational scuba diving trip slept below deck.
The Conception carried 33 passengers and six 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 Sheriff 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 stabilise the boat that sank in about 18 metres (60 feet) 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.
The missing and dead were among 39 passengers and crew who had departed Santa Barbara Harbor on Saturday on board the boat for a Labor Day weekend trip.
SOURCE: Aljazeera
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