Five members of a California family who were celebrating a birthday are among the 34 people assumed dead in a fire on a scuba diving boat.
Relatives said Micheal Quitasol, his daughters Evan, Nicole and Angela Quitasol, and his wife Fernisa Sison, were on the Conception.
Twenty-five bodies have been recovered from the wreck so far and authorities are working to identify them.
The boat caught fire on Monday while passengers slept below decks.
On Tuesday the search for survivors was called off. Of the 39 people on board, just five – all crew – survived by jumping over-board. A sixth member of the crew is also thought to have been trapped below.
The cause of the blaze is unknown but an investigation is under way.
Susan Solano Rosas said “with a broken hear” that her three daughters had died along with her ex-husband and his wife.
“The authorities do not have much to say to us,” Mrs. Rosas wrote. “Thank you to all of you for your support, prayers and good wishes.”
Who else was on the Conception?
- A marine biologist, 41-year-old Kirsty Finstad, was leading the scuba trip, her family said. Her brother described her as “extremely strong-willed and very adventurous”
- Physics teacher Scott Chan and his daughter Kendra were on board, according to the Fremont Unified School District
- The Pacific Collegiate School in Santa Cruz, several of its students and parents had been on the boat
- The mother of Allie Kurtz, 25, told US media her daughter was among the dead
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