What we know about the dive boat fire victims on the island of Santa Cruz

A family of five from Stockton, two high school students and the owner of a diving company in Santa Cruz are among the passengers of a fire-ravaged ship in Southern California. The deadly fire sent shockwaves throughout the Bay Area, with most victims still unidentified.

Officials have not officially designated any victims, saying that DNA samples may be needed to identify some of the remains. Up to now, 25 people have been confirmed dead and nine others missing but presumed dead after Coast Guard agents suspended their search for survivors on Tuesday morning. Five crew members were able to escape the devastating fire.

Among them is a family from Stockton, including father Michael Quitasol, in his early 60s, and his daughters Evanmichael Solano Quitasol, 37, Nicole Quitasol, 31, and Angela Quitasol, 28. Fernisa June Sison, Michael's partner and Quitasol, the stepmother of her daughters, has also been identified by KCRA.

Sison, Michael Quitasol and Evanmichael Quitasol, named Evan, were all nurses at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in the Central Valley, according to a statement from the company. Sison had worked at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton, while Michael Quitasol worked at the Kaiser Permanente Modesto and Manteca Medical Centers. Evan Quitasol had also worked in Stockton and Modesto hospitals, according to a spokesman for the company.

Angela Quitasol was a Grade 7 science teacher at Sierra Middle School in Stockton, where she also attended school.

"For Angela, students were her priority. She shared her passion for science with them and greeted them every day with a big five and a bright smile, "said Lincoln Unified Superintendent Kelly Dextraze. "We are all deeply saddened by this terrible incident and we are holding his family and all those affected in our thoughts and prayers in this difficult time."

Nicole Quitasol worked for almost four years as a waiter and bartender at the Nicky Rottens Bar & Burger Joint in Coronado, according to restaurant's CFO Bryn Butolph. The restaurant, with permission from a family member, has created a GoFundMe page to raise funds to cover funeral expenses.

Susana Rosa, mother of the three Quitasol sisters, baptized her daughters on Facebook "with a broken heart".

Chris Rosas, Susana Rosa's husband, said Tuesday afternoon that he and his wife were in Santa Barbara, waiting for further information from the authorities.

"We are in Santa Barbara with all the other people who lost a person in the accident. We are all talking to each other, just to be together, "said Rosas.

Kristy Finstad, co-owner of a diving company based in Santa Cruz, was also aboard the boat, according to family members. Finstad's Worldwide Diving Adventures had chartered the Commercial Diving Boat Design, designed for a Labor Day excursion to the coasts of Ventura County, last weekend.

Finstad, a diving instructor and marine biologist who runs the business with her husband, Dan Chua, was attending a diving weekend off the Channel Islands, according to an article posted on Facebook by her brother Brett Harmeling.

Reached on the phone late Monday afternoon, Harmeling said that he had still not heard of his sister from the authorities more than 12 hours after the authorities said the boat had taken fire. Harmeling did not want to comment anymore.

Finstad worked part-time for the Santa Cruz Department of Waters on Health and Watershed Protection from 2005 to 2015, the year she left to head the full-time diving family business, according to a press release. published by the city.

"Kristina was a talented interpreter of natural resources and often ran the department's programs," the statement said.

Emily Zimmel, co-owner of Adventure Sports Unlimited, a dive shop and a swimming school in Santa Cruz, said the Finstad family was well known in its "tight-knit diving community". Worldwide Diving Adventures and also chartered boats from Truth Aquatics, owner of Design.

According to Zimmel, news of the tragedy hit the diving community hard. If Kristy Finstad has not been officially informed, Zimmel's family is distressed and afraid to die.

"Kristy was a really brilliant soul. It's really a big disappointment, "she said. "We broke down. I've cracked it. I cried, I cried very hard.

When the fire broke out on Conception, Zimmel was about 160 km south of the Vision, also owned by Truth Aquatics, leading his own dive trip of the Labor Day weekend.

"All the people aboard our boat were definitely moved by the news of the boat chartered by Finstad. Everyone on our boat knew at least one person on (Conception), "she said, adding that they had ended their trip earlier and had returned home.