(CNN) Thirty-three people had signed up to spend what promised to be a glorious Labor Day weekend aboard the Conception , a 75-foot boat that offered a scuba diver's dream: unlimited diving among giant fish and colorful underwater sea life, with gourmet meals served between dives.
The destination was San Miguel, in California's Channel Islands, where huge halibut and other fish abound, and September is the perfect time to visit, because of swells and strong winds at other times of the year, trip organizers said in their promotion of the $665 weekend.
But on the last part of the trip, the ship caught fire off of Santa Cruz Island, and it was fully ablaze by 3:30 a.m. Monday, said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown.
It was basically a hopeless situation, authorities said, because the ship was in such a remote location, in the middle of the night, with a fire that's growing out of control.
"You couldn't ask for a worse situation," Brown said at a press conference.
"This is probably the worst-case scenario you can possibly have," Brown said. "You have a vessel that's on the open sea, that is in the middle of the night. I mean, it's 3:30 in the morning."
By 7:20 a.m., the ship began to sink. It had burned down to the water line, Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason said.
The Conception was carrying 33 passengers on a diving excursion when a fire broke out.
As evening drew in, only five people -- crew members -- had been found alive of the 39 people who had been on board when the fire started.
Twenty bodies have been found, according to Brown who spoke to the New York Times . More than a dozen are still missing.
None of the people who were aboard the vessel have been identified.
A search and rescue effort for survivors will become a recovery mission Tuesday morning, Eliason told reporters Monday.
"It's going to be maintained a search and rescue effort until dawn tomorrow," Eliason said. "Then we're going to make the unfortunate transition to recovery."
The five rescued crew members were awake in the main cabin and were able to jump ship, but the boat was already fully engulfed in flames, said Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester. A nearby boat rescued them from the water.
The passengers were below deck, most likely sound asleep.
A mayday call revealed one side of the harrowing discussion between a Coast Guard dispatcher and the Conception's captain. Only the dispatcher's words were captured, but it provides insight into the panic the captain was experiencing.
After the captain apparently reports a fire and provides a location, the dispatcher is heard saying, "And there's 33 people on board the vessel that's on fire, they can't get off? ... Roger, are they locked inside the boat? ... Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the door so they can get off? ... Roger, you don't have any firefighting gear at all? No fire extinguishers or anything?"
Later in the conversation, the dispatcher asks, "Was that all the crew that jumped off? ... Roger, is the vessel fully engulfed right now ... Roger, and there's no escape hatch for any of the people on board?"
At one point, the caller says, "I can't breathe."
Truth Aquatics, the company that operates the Conception, did not provide comment to CNN.
Rochester said the vessel has been in full compliance.
James Kohls was in Oxnard waiting to learn the fate of his brother, Mike Kohls, the gallery cook and a deckhand on the Conception. At 4 a.m., his brother, a lifelong surfer and father of one daughter, is typically making breakfast for the passengers, James Kohls said.
"It's very surreal at the moment," he told reporters. "They were going to let me know whether he was one of the survivors that got off."
Firefighters had difficulties snuffing out the fire, the Coast Guard's Aaron Bemis told CNN, because each time it was extinguished, it flared back up -- perhaps because of the fuel on board.
The 75-foot Conception was on a three-day trip and was slated to return Monday.
"We're still holding hope that someone may have swum to shore," Eliason told CNN. "When they anchor overnight, they're pretty close to shore. We have to hope, but we plan for worst-case scenario."
The boat was about 20 miles off the mainland coast, near Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park. Authorities are searching the islands' shorelines for survivors, the Coast Guard said.
The Conception was launched in 1981 and had bunk space for 46 people, according to Truth Aquatics' website . The boat was fully equipped with "all appliances necessary for food preparation," including a built-in barbeque. It had rafts and life jackets for 110 passengers.
The cause of the blaze is not clear. Authorities said there were no signs of criminal activity.
"This isn't a day that we wanted to wake up to for Labor Day, and it's a very tragic event," Rochester said at a press conference.
"But I think we all should be prepared to move into the the worst outcome," Rochester said.
The ''Conception'' fire at night 
A deadly boat fire earlier this week near  off the coast of California, United States, resulted in the death of all 33 passengers. The boat, ''Conception'', which caught fire overnight in open seas, carried 33 passengers and six crew members. Five people, who were all crew, were rescued while the rest are presumed dead. 
Helicopter footage of response to the boat fire on Monday 
The ''Conception'' was a 75  (~23 ) long commercial boat on a three-day voyage for  with Monday being the  holiday. The fire started some time after 3 a.m. local time {1000 UTC) Monday. "This is probably the worst-case scenario you can possibly have," said  Bill Brown. "You have a vessel that's on the open sea, that is in the middle of the night. I mean, it's 3:30 in the morning." As of late Tuesday, 20 bodies had been recovered, eleven women and nine men, according to Brown.

The  (USCG) called off its search late on Tuesday. USCG Captain Monica Rochester told the press a nearly 24-hour search mission involving three helicopters covering 160  (~415 km2) had discovered no further signs in the water. "It is never an easy decision to suspend search efforts," she said. "We know that this is a very difficult time for families and friends of the victims."

Authorities have not named a cause for the fire, though it was intimated there were no signs of an explosion and the ''Conception'' was known to have the requisite fire suppression equipment. CNN, however, reported on a distress call from someone on the ''Conception'', who may or may not have been the captain. The excerpts, which are only the dispatcher's words were reported by CNN as such:


Commenting on the radio communications, Captain Rochester said the situation had "a lot of adrenaline, a lot of confusion. ... The dispatcher was trying to ask for information." However, she added, "there are no locked doors in accommodation spaces" where the passengers would have been.

The ''Conception'' was owned by Truth Aquatics and chartered by Worldwide Diving Adventures. Both companies have been in operation since the 1970s according to ''USA Today''.



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