& # 39; You can only imagine the horror & # 39 ;: 8 bodies found, 26 missing people ..

More than two dozen people are still missing after eight bodies were found in the water near a 75 – foot professional dive boat that caught fire early Monday morning off the coast. Santa Cruz Island, California. according to the authorities.

The only known survivors of the Conception, a vessel designed for long dives, were five crew members rescued by a good Samaritan pleasure boat, The Grape Escape, sitting nearby. There were 39 people aboard the ship at the time of the accident. Twenty-six people have still not been found.

"I was hearing voices, so I donned shorts, I headed for the door and I see this ship on fire, completely engulfed," said Bob Hansen, owner of The Grape Escape. "At least 30 feet of flames – a 75-foot boat and it was on fire from one end to the other.I would have said that there were portholes under the bridge and that there was no fire. you could see the fire through the holes. "

"You can only imagine the horror," he added.

Four bodies were found, while four others were found at the bottom of the sea, according to sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County. Two adult men and two adult women were found. They do not have the identity of these bodies that have been found and some may take DNA analysis to confirm.

The instability of the boat, upside down at the bottom of the water, makes it difficult to recover later, said the sheriff.

Ventura County officials "fear many victims" as rescue operations continue, Public Information Officer Bill Nash told ABC News.

The crew members reported that three groups celebrating their birthday, including one of a 17-year-old, were aboard the ship.

Captain Monica Rochester, Area Commander of Long Beach in Los Angeles, said that the crew was awake at the time of the fire and jumped from the boat into the water.

"One of the guys had a broken leg, it was extremely painful," Hansen said.

The Coast Guard said it would continue to search for survivors all night, but was ready to face the worst results.

Nash said the officials were hoping people would pass by the side of the boat and go to Santa Cruz. However, the fire occurred all night in absolute darkness and the dormitories were under the bridge. Nash said that they "were very worried about losing their lives here."

Santa Barbara County, responding to information from the Associated Press, confirmed in a tweet late Monday night that more bodies had been found but that there would be no new information until Tuesday morning .

The emergency calls showed the desperation of the passengers.

"I can not breathe," said a passenger aboard the burning ship near the island of Santa Cruz.

Coast Guard crews, firefighters from Santa Barbara, Ventura County and Vessel Assist responded to a Mayday call that was heard around 3:15 pm

"The fire crews were fighting the fire when the ship sank 20 meters off the coast in 64 feet of water," according to a Coast Guard release.

"It was reported that the ship was on fire," said the Los Angeles office of The US Coast Guard tweeted earlier on Monday. They added that "a group of crew members were rescued (one with minor injuries) and efforts continue to evacuate the remaining passengers".

Rochester said the ship was in "full compliance".

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but said that there was no reason to suspect the crime.

"We are deliberately working with the owner / operator of the ship, who is working with us at that time on an additional plan of assistance for her ship," she said.

Ventura County Fire Department Information Officers says in a tweet that their department reacted to the fire around 3:30. They stated that the Coast Guard "was helping to support the rescue operations of people on board a dive boat".

According to the Santa Barbara Fire Department, the boat was drifting to the island of Santa Cruz and was moored when the fire started to burn. According to the Coast Guard, there is currently a portion of the bow coming out of the water.

The three-day trip began on August 31 and was expected Monday morning.

A team of 16 members of the National Transportation Safety Board will visit the site, along with board member Jennifer Homendy.

Some investigators will leave Washington Monday night to arrive in California around 1 am local time at the latest. The others will leave early Tuesday morning.

Kayna Whitworth and Mina Kaji of ABC News contributed to this report.