Fire of a boat in California: the man who lost five members of his family on a dive boat speaks

The Coast Guard has suspended his search for the next survivors a deadly boat fire off the California coast. This news is particularly distressing for Domenic Selga, who lost five members of his family when the ship caught fire.

"You do not want to believe it, you want to keep that 1%, but at this point my heart knows that," Selga said.

Selga said his mother, stepfather and three half-sisters were among the 34 people believed to have died aboard the Design dive boat, which caught fire and sank off the coast of Santa Barbara on Monday morning.

"They were there in these little bunk beds, these very small bunk beds … so as not to be able to escape … It was something that was trotting in my head," said Selga. "It was just a complete nightmare."

On Tuesday, the rescuers continued their efforts to find the bodies of people imprisoned under the bridge. The FBI visited a sister ship belonging to the same travel agency with a layout similar to that of Conception.

Cherie McDonough said her 25-year-old daughter was on board.

"Never thought I should go that way," she said. "She was just following her dreams, she loved this place and the boat, she loved to dive."

Experienced diver Kristy Finstad was also a passenger. Aged 41, he was aboard the ship to conduct a diving excursion.

The wreck of the boat now rests upside down on the bottom of the ocean. "The divers will also map out the search area … which is about half a kilometer in our ongoing efforts to find victims and additional evidence," said Bill Brown, sheriff of Santa Barbara.

Meanwhile, family members are asked to provide DNA to help identify the victims.

"There was an extraordinarily hot fire," Brown said. "And the bodies are showing signs of extreme thermal damage."

Selga just wants answers for her family. "There was one thing I could say to my mother," I love you "and that's all," he says with tears.

Selga's family was traveling to celebrate the birthday of his father-in-law. He would have been 61 years old on Wednesday. The National Transportation Safety Agency's final report on the case could take months – but the office said it was 100% confident it could determine how the fire had started.