Picture source: Ventura Fire Dept.
Rescue divers have so far retrieved twenty-five bodies from the wreck of the Conception, the scuba diving boat destroyed by fire off the California coast on Monday morning. Nine people remain missing.
The Conception was carrying 39 people on a 3-day long scuba diving trip around Santa Cruz Island, just off the coast of Santa Barbara.
For reasons yet unknown, the boat caught fire in the early hours of Labor Day (September 2). Most of the passengers were asleep when the blaze broke out.
Five crew members managed to escape by jumping into the ocean and paddling to a nearby boat, where they raised the alarm.