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California authorities have begun the process of identifying the victims of a boat fire suspected of having cost 34 lives.
Sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County said that DNA samples would be required from the family of alleged victims to identify them.
Authorities have moved from search and rescue operations to a recovery effort. Only five people survived, all crew members.
The dive boat caught fire on Monday as passengers slept under the bridges.
Twenty bodies – eleven women and nine men – have been found, but there are still some in the submerged wreck, officials said Tuesday.
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People have left flowers on the dock where the design is based
Divers will attempt to stabilize the 23-meter Conception ship to recover the remaining victims.
The ship is upside down in more than 20 meters of water, officials said.
When asked why DNA material would be needed, Sheriff Brown told reporters that it was "an extremely intense fire and that the bodies were showing signs of damage." extreme heat ".
According to preliminary reports, Sheriff Brown stated that a 17-year-old man and several people in his sixties were probably on board the recreational diving ship when he caught fire.
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FIRE DISTRIBUTION BY THE EPA / SANTA BARBARA ACCOUNT
The boat was totally in flames as the crews tried to rescue the passengers
The brother of a marine biologist – Kristy Finstad, 41 – told the US media that she was conducting a diving trip and that she was presumed dead.
No cause of the fire has yet been determined.
What did the authorities say?
Captain Monica Rochester, of the US Coast Guard, said that search and rescue operations were suspended Tuesday morning after a reconnaissance aircraft flew over the wreckage and discovered "no further signs of distress." or debris ".
The debris field covered nearly 2.4 km, said Sheriff Brown. He added that more than 160 miles of ocean had also been searched.
Cpt Rochester told reporters that the boat had an "open berthing" plan, which means there were no locked doors on board and that curtains were used to separate different compartments, such as dorms.
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Getty / Ventura Country Fire Department
Firefighters were unable to board the ship to extinguish it as the flames have already taken root
She added that smoke detectors and fire-fighting systems must be installed on the boat, which had successfully passed its last annual inspection.
When asked if the crew needed to display a night watch, Capt Rochester said the case was still under investigation.
How did the crew survive?
Five members of the ship's crew escaped the fire and were able to direct another ship to a nearby boat, the Grape Escape, where they called the emergency services.
Sheriff Brown said the captain appears to have jumped to the water with other people who fled the burning ship.
Sherriff Brown stated that the design was divided into three decks, with passengers assigned the lower level as the base piece.
The central bridge housed the galley and the ship's lounge, while the upper deck was the crew's quarters and the deck of the boat, he said.
He stated that it was "perfectly normal for the crew to be on the assigned deck" and closer to an exit when the fire broke out.
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