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SANTA BARBARA – Dozens of people who died in the flames engulfed a diving boat off the south coast of California, belonging to many circles. Among them are two high school students, a hairdresser, a marine biologist, software engineers, a special effects designer for Disney, a nature photographer, a nurse and a family of five celebrating an anniversary.
Their common love for scuba diving brought them to the rugged and beautiful coast of the Channel Islands for a three day tour. Thirty-four people died when Conception caught fire before dawn on Labor Day, as it was wetting off the island of Santa Cruz.
Flames over the bridge blocked the stairway and an emergency hatch leading from bunk beds to the upper decks and gave those under the floor virtually no chance of getting out, the authorities said.
Only one person remained missing on Wednesday. The divers fired 33 bodies from the seabed and charred debris from the overturned and submerged ship.
Five crew members, including the captain, were over the bridge and managed to escape.
Allie Kurtz, 26, was the only member of the crew to die. She left her job at Paramount Pictures to work on dive boats. Kurtz, who grew up in Illinois, was recently promoted to deckhand.
"Her love was just always, always water," said Kurtz 'grandmother, Doris Lapporte, 71, to the Associated Press during a phone interview. "She was joking, I'm going to become a pirate someday."
The captain, the owner of the boat and other people were interrogated for hours, while the National Transportation Safety Board was investigating the fire, said NTSB member Jennifer Homendy on Tuesday.
Four crew members underwent negative alcohol tests, and the five survivors were screened for addiction, but the results are not yet known, explained Homendy.
According to the US Coast Guard, the design was not required by federal regulations to have fire extinguishers on board.
Among the victims, Steve Salika, an engineer at Apple, and his wife, Diana Adamic, who accompanied their daughter, Tia Salika, on the trip to celebrate the 17th anniversary of adolescence, said the vice president of the company, Deirdre O. Brien, at the Mercury News newspaper. Apple's colleague Dan Garcia joined them.
Tia was with Berenic Felipe, another student at Pacific Collegiate Charter School in Santa Cruz, according to a letter sent to the school community by NBC News.
Charles McIvain, visual effects designer, was also known for his work on such films as "Spider-Man" and "Green Lantern".
Lisa Fiedler was a 52-year-old hairdresser and photographer from the Mill Valley community north of San Francisco, her mother, Nancy Fiedler, told ABC's ABC affiliate KGO.
The San Francisco-based Education Platform, Brilliant, has confirmed the presence of Carrie McLaughlin, Software Engineer, and Kristian Takvam, Vice President of Engineering, on board.
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Watson brought back from San Diego. Associated press editors John Antczak and John Rogers in Los Angeles and Janie Har in San Francisco, Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this story.
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