4 Bodies Recovered From Boat Fire off Santa Cruz Island

Updated Monday at 6:59 p.m.

Authorities recovered the bodies of four people killed Monday by a raging fire that swept through a commercial scuba diving boat anchored off of Santa Cruz Island in Southern California. More than twenty other passengers remain missing and are feared dead.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll said the four bodies, pulled from the ocean about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, all had injuries consistent with drowning. The bodies of the victims will have to be identified through DNA, according to authorities.

All five of the boat's crew members were rescued after jumping off the 75-foot dive boat when the blaze broke out, according to Coast Guard Captain Monica Rochester.

Thirty-three passengers were believed to be sleeping below deck.

The Coast Guard will continue its coast, land and aircraft search-and-rescue operation through the end of Monday and Tuesday morning as they look for survivors along the shoreline.

Federal and local agencies, such as the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner and the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office, have joined the investigation.

The fire broke out before dawn aboard the dive boat named Conception on the final day of a Labor Day weekend cruise to the Channel Islands.

"At 3:15 this morning the Coast Guard overheard a mayday call. The call was garbled, it was not that clear, but we were able to get some information out of it to send vessels on scene," said Petty Officer Mark Barney.

Rochester said that call indicated the boat was already fully ablaze.

Crews from the Coast Guard, Santa Barbara Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department and BoatUS, a water vessel assistance service, responded to the scene.

The five crew members were awake on the top deck when the fire broke out, according to Rochester. Passersby on a pleasure craft known as The Grape Escape rescued them after they jumped into the water. Two of the crew suffered minor injuries.

The Santa Barbara Sheriff's County Office was in contact with the survivors of the fire, according to officials, but information from their investigation has not been released.

The Ventura County Fire Department said on Twitter that it responded to the fire around 3:30 a.m. A photo tweeted by the department showed a boat engulfed in flames.

The vessel sank 20 yards offshore in 64 feet of water as firefighters battled the blaze, according to a statement from the Coast Guard. A portion of the boat's bow remains sticking out of the water.

It is still unknown if the vessel will be examined onsite or if it will be removed from the water.

Recent Coast Guard records show inspections of the vessel, conducted in February 2019 and August 2018, found no deficiencies, according to the Associated Press, but earlier inspections found some safety violations related to fire safety.

A 2016 inspection resulted in owners replacing the heat detector in the galley, and one in 2014 cited a leaky fire hose. Records show all safety violations from the last five years were quickly addressed by the boat's owners.

The Conception was operated by Worldwide Diving Adventures, a Santa Barbara-based company that's been in business since 1972, according to its website.

Divers sleep in a single room of bunk beds, according to a diagram of the Conception posted on the website for Truth Aquatics, the Santa Barbara company that owns the ship.

The vessel, launched in 1981, has rafts and life jackets for up to 110 passengers and features exits on the port, starboard and bow that provide "easy water entry," according to the website.

The trip, which was part of a Labor Day weekend that began on August 31 at 4 a.m. and was supposed to end on Tuesday, September 3, promised opportunities to see colorful coral and a variety of marine life.

Family members and loved ones of the missing began arriving at the Coast Guard station in Oxnard Monday morning, and a Family Assistance Center was established at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara.

The list of passengers on the boat has not been released.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This is a developing story, check back for updates.