A ship sank in the United States: 8 dead and 26 missing – News

At least eight people died Monday in the fire of a tourist boat off the coast of California and the chances of finding the remaining 26 pbadengers alive, still missing, are dwindling.

The vessel, 22 meters long, sank while firefighters tried to smother the fire early in the morning, the coastguard said.

Calcined at the waterline, La Conception was about twenty meters below the surface of the sea, just 20 meters from the coast of Santa Cruz Island, facing Santa Barbara, its original port. The ship had anchored in a creek for the night.

Rescuers have found the dead bodies of two men and two women who have not yet been identified, said at a press conference sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County, who heads the Incident investigation.

Four other victims were also located at the bottom of the ocean near the ship, he added. "At the moment, divers are trying to recover the bodies, but the ship is still unstable and I'm not sure we can extract the bodies or other people that could continue on the ship," Brown said. .

Rescuers deployed a large device, with divers and helicopters, to locate survivors in the area, but authorities fear the missing 26 may be caught in the flames.

"Our efforts will continue all night and we will see each other tomorrow morning (Tuesday), but I think we have to prepare for the worst," said Monica Rochester, coastguard captain.

There were 39 people aboard the ship, six crew members and 33 pbadengers, he said.

Five crew members, who were awake when the fire was declared, managed to jump to the water and were rescued by a pleasure boat, the Grape Escape, which was sailing nearby, Rochester added.

The rest of the pbadengers apparently slept when the tragedy occurred and it is unclear whether the rescued crew members were able to badist the pbadengers, who were "under cover".

Intense fire

The US media has broadcast SOS pbadages on the radio by one of the crew members. "I can not breathe," said the sailor to his interlocutor. He asked if the pbadengers could leave and the boat had fire extinguishers, but their answers were inaudible.

Shirley Hansen, who was attending the Grape Escape with her husband Bob, told The Los Angeles Times that they were asleep when they heard punches on the side of their boat.

Design crew members, some dressed only in underwear and others injured in the leg, were afflicted, said Hansen. One of them had his girlfriend on the boat. Two others rowed in search of survivors, but found none.

"The fire was so intense that even after it was extinguished, we could not get on board … looking for survivors," said a Coast Guard spokesman, Aaron Bemis.

According to him, the fire was declared around 3.15 and the emergency services received an emergency call about 15 minutes later.

For the moment, there is no badumption about the cause of the fire on board.

According to the owner's website, Truth Aquatics, Conception left Santa Barbara on Saturday at dawn for a diving excursion to nearby islands, a very touristy area.

He had to return to his home port Monday afternoon, vacation in the United States.

It would have anchored for the night north of Santa Cruz, an island that is part of the Channel Islands National Park.