At least 25 people were confirmed dead and another nine remained missing after a boat carrying scuba divers went up in flames while anchored off a Southern California island Monday, officials said.
Rescue teams continued to search Tuesday morning for “any survivors or any signs of life” near the Conception, located roughly 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles off Santa Cruz Island, Lt. Cmdr Matthew Kroll, of the U.S. Coast Guard, told “Fox & Friends.”
“We’re still in active search right now,” Kroll said, noting the Coast Guard had “crews on scene overnight.” He said when investigators arrived Monday, the boat “was already entirely engulfed with flames,” but added five crew members aboard the ship were quickly rescued.
It was questioned in the audio of a distress call made from the vessel whether those on the vessel were locked inside. Kroll said such information — “where and which doors were hatched and were locked, and which ones were not” — was not immediately clear.
“A lot of boats have water-tight doors just for overall stability and security of the vessel so that if the doors are open the boat becomes less stable. So a lot of times there are what we call watertight doors,” Kroll said, noting that determining whether people were locked inside the burning ship will be included in authorities’ investigation.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the vessel was in a remote location with limited firefighting capabilities, passengers were sleeping below deck in the middle of the night and there was a quick-moving fire.
Stella's Place 
This is just too horrible. I don’t know where this “locked doors” stuff came from, but what a scary thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At first I heard that the fire was in the galley, and that those trapped below had to go through the galley in order to get out.
LikeLike