Five men soaking wet and shivering in their underwear told the Hansens of a catastrophic fire that had ravaged their 75-foot commercial scuba diving vessel, the Conception, several hundred feet away.
The men, all crew members, had escaped one of California’s worst maritime disasters in decades, a fire that authorities said Monday appeared to have claimed dozens of lives. A total of 39 people were on board the Conception, and as of late Monday, there were 25 confirmed deaths, The Associated Press said, citing Coast Guard reports.
The desperation became clear to Bob Hansen when he stepped outside his cabin and saw the glow of the raging fire in the dark. In an interview, he said that he had seen the Conception completely engulfed in flames, “from stem to stern.”
“I could see the fire coming through holes on the side of the boat,” he said. “There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.”
In a haunting distress call apparently made from the Conception and recorded by a Ventura County marine radio channel, a man yells, “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” Through the distortion and crackle of the radio call, the man’s fear is apparent. “I can’t breathe!” he screams.
Rescue crews scoured the waters south of Santa Barbara and west of Los Angeles throughout the day Monday, hoping that they might find survivors from the Conception, which had been on a three-day holiday excursion to the Channel Islands, part of a national park encompassing rugged, pristine coves in the Pacific.
The remains of four victims were recovered by rescue teams Monday, according to Sheriff Bill Brown of Santa Barbara County, and an additional four had been located “on the ocean floor in close proximity to the vessel,” he said. There were six crew members aboard and 33 passengers.
A Coast Guard spokeswoman, Capt. Monica Rochester, said during a news conference late Monday that the search would continue through the night. But she said the crew members were the only known survivors from the Conception.
This article originally appeared in
.