Officials seem to hold out little hope for 26 People still missing aboard Santa Barbara-based Conception, but search continues
ByTom Bolton, Noozhawk Executive Editor |@tombol|
6: 41 PM|September 2, 2019 | 4: 48 PM
Four bodies have been recovered and four others have been located on the ocean floor nearSanta Cruz Island, where the commercialdive boat Conception caught fire and sankearly Monday.
Five crew members were rescued from the blazing vessel, which was reported at about 3: 30 am at Platts Harbor on the mainland side of the island, about 28 miles south of Santa Barbara.
TheU.S. Coast Guardand other responders continued searching Monday afternoon for the 26 people still missing, but officials seemed to hold out little hope that more survivors would be found.
“We’re prepared to search through the night and into the morning, but I think we all should be prepared to move into the worst outcome,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester said at an afternoon news media briefing in Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown briefs reporters Monday afternoon about the fire and sinking of the commercial dive boat Conception. Eight people have been confirmed dead and 26 others remain missing. (Ray Ford / Noozhawk photo)
Santa Barbara CountySheriff Bill Brownsaid the four bodies brought to shore at the Santa Barbara Harbor were two adult males and two adult females.
No additional details were provided about those victims, with Brown saying DNA testing would be required to identify the remains.
Rochester said the wreckage of the 75 – foot Conception ended up upside-down on the ocean floor in about 60 feet of water.
The burned-out hull of the Santa Barbara -based Conception dive boat shortly before it sank Monday near Santa Cruz Island. Eight fatalities have been confirmed, and there are 26 other people who remain missing and are feared dead. (Ventura County Fire Department photo) ******
“The boat remains unstable, and I’m unsure when we’ll be able to recover those bodies and others still in the vessel, ”Brown said.
The surviving crew members have been interviewed by investigators from theSheriff’s Departmentand the Coast Guard, but details of what they said have not been released.
One crew member remains among the missing.
The Conception was on a Labor Day weekend diving excursion that began Saturday morning and was scheduled to end Tuesday morning, Brown said. The vessel was owned and operated byTruth Aquatics, out ofSea Landingat the harbor.
The names and hometowns of those on board have not been released, but Brown said they likely are from throughout Southern California, and perhaps farther away.
Makeshift memorials are being placed near Sea Landing at the Santa Barbara Harbor, home port for the Conception commercial dive boat, which caught fire and sank Monday, killing at least eight people, with 26 still missing . (Brooke Holland / Noozhawk photo)
A static-filled audio recording of the Mayday transmission from the Conception includes the caller saying, “I can’t breathe. ”
Under questioning from the Coast Guard dispatcher, the man gives the vessel’s position on the north side of Santa Cruz Island, and says there are 33 people trapped on board the boat, which was engulfed in flames.
“There’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board,” the man tells the Coast Guard.
Most of the crew members reportedly were awake and on the upper deck of the vessel when the fire broke out, while the passengers were sleeping in bunks on a lower deck.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation by local, state and federal authorities, but in response to a reporter’s question, Brown said there was no initial report of an explosion, as some have speculated.
Check back withNoozhawkfor an expanded version of this story.
–Noozhawkexecutive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at. (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow noozhawk on twitter:@ noozhawk @ NoozhawkNewsand@ NoozhawkBiz. Connect withNoozhawk on Facebook.
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