Latest :
- The Coast Guard is responding to a 75-foot dive boat in distress off the coast of Southern California.
- There are at least 34 people on board. Five people have been rescued, according to the Coast Guard.
- There are “numerous fatalities,” according to Bill Nash of Ventura County PIO.
Coast Guard can’t board the boat yet because the fire continues to re-flash
Coast Guard Senior Chief Aaron Bemis told CNN the fire on the boat keeps re-flashing, hampering efforts to board the boat and look for survivors.
“It keeps being extinguished and re-flashing, possibly due to the amount of fuel on board. Unsure why, but it’s consistently being put out and re-flashing,” Bemis said.
“Multiple coast guard and local Ventura County Fire Department assets on scene, but we’re not able to yet breach the hull and see if there’s any survivors at this point,” Bemis said.
Bemis could not confirm any fatalities, “I’m unaware of any survivors at this time, and I’m also no confirmed casualties at this time. It’s too early to tell.”
“It’s a 75-foot commercial dive vessel that reportedly had 39 people on board. The five crew members able to disembark because they were in the main cabin. The 34 passengers were below decks,” Bemis added.
“The report we got was they were trapped by the fire. The fire was so intense that even after it was put out, we’re not able to actually embark the vessel and, you know, look for survivors at this point. It’s still ongoing,” he said.
The vessel on fire is a dive boat named “Conception”
The diving boat that is on fire off the coast of Southern California is named “Conception.” It is based in Santa Barbara Harbor, according to Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol Officer Nathan Alldredge.
Alldredge tells CNN they were called to respond shortly before 4 a.m. local today for fire suppression and mutual aid in the Platts Harbor area of Santa Cruz Island.
He says the boat was reported with “at least 30 passengers on board and fully involved in flames.”
According to Truth Aquatics website, which conducts boat charters in the area, Conception left Saturday for a three-day cruise. It was scheduled to return today.
“Numerous fatalities” in Southern California boat fire
From CNN’s Amanda Watts
There are numerous fatalities in the boat fire that’s taking place off the coast of Southern California, according to Bill Nash of Ventura County PIO.
“It’s a large boat, and we know we have numerous fatalities. I don’t have an exact number,” Nash said.
The boat fire is about 20 miles off the coast in the Channel Islands National Park, though Nash wasn’t sure exactly to which island it was closest. Nash said initial reports are that the boat is a diving vessel.
“We are not sure where it falls jurisdictionally; it’s Coast Guard, Santa Barbara or Ventura,” he said. “Where that plays in, after we figure out what we’ve got, it’s where to transport the bodies.”
Nash said there are numerous agencies responding, including personal watercraft.
34 people on board, 5 have been rescued
The Coast Guard Los Angeles confirmed that there are 34 people on board the boat, and they have rescued five.
However, it’s not clear if those five rescued were included in the 34 total.
“All we can say is the boat is on fire,” the Coast Guard tells CNN.
Several Coast Guard agencies and others are responding right now.