a spokesman says there are numerous fatalities from a fire on board the 75-foot diving boat. the coast guard says more than 39 people were on board. five of them have been rescued. the five rescued were all crew members. multiple agencies responded to this mayday fire call early this morning near santa cruz island. the boat named conception sank just 20 yards offshore as fire crews have been battling the flames. cnn s nick watt is following the story for us. we re getting new details about the mayday call, nick. what are you learning? reporter: we are, well, this call came in shortly before 3:30 that there was a huge fire aboard there 75-foot diving boat just off santa cruz island, off the california coast here. and just take a listen to a little bit of that mayday call. we re having technical issues. i know you know reporter: in that call, okay, so brooke, yeah, i mean, in that
information. if you will, we ll go ahead and continue our response search efforts. so with that i ll close out this brief. thank you. it s rochester. first name? monica. my rank is captain. when can we expect another update? and what do you say to family members who want information? i d like you to go ahead and work through our public affairs person here, petty officer coony and he will set up the next briefing. we re working on a family assistance center. was there that s all the questions i have for right now so we can go ahead and continue our response. thank you very much. you ve been listening to a briefing from the coast guard, absolutely terrifying and tragic. just to recap, after 3:00 this morning pacific time, there was a mayday call that a ship that was engulfed in flames.
shocked as you would expect. so right now, what is still going on, we re told that they are still looking for bodies. now the boat burned and sank just 20 yards off the shore of santa cruz island. so rescue personnel right now are combing those shorelines trying to find any survivors or i hate to say it, but any bodies. that is ongoing right now. as it stands, five have survived, 34 people, brooke, still unaccounted for. many hours after this fire took hold. this is awful. especially with the news from this mayday call. nick watt, i appreciate you relaying that to us. ken curtis is with me now from los angeles. he is the owner of reef seekers dive company. ken, thank you for coming on. i understand you know the owner of this boat. you just heard the new reporting on this mayday call that the coast guard dispatcher asking can you get back on board, unlock the boat, you don t have any fire-fighting gear at all? you know the owner. tell us about the type of operation he runs.
coast guard and partner agencies have responded to a vessel fire near santa cruz island this morning at 0330 which is 3:30 a.m. coast guard sector los angeles, long beach overheard a mayday call over channel 16 of an engulfed 75-foot commercial diving vessel with 39 people aboard. crews from the coast guard, santa barbara fire department, ventura county fire department and the vessel assist have responded. fire department crews were fighting the fire when the vessel sank 20 yards offshore in 64 feet of water. five people were evacuated aboard a good samaritan pleasure craft known as the grape escape. currently 34 people aboard the vessel are unaccounted for. watch standards at coast guard los angeles sector long beach launched two harbor 45-foot
back by the inferno. it keeps being extinguished and reflashing, possibly due to the amount of fuel onboard. unsure why. reporter: five crew members escaped. the crew was actually already awake and on the bridge and they jumped off. five people were evacuated aboard a good samaritan pleasure craft. known as the great escape. reporter: one brought ashore on a stretcher, rushed to the hospital. one limping, an injured ankle. two shoeless and shocked. 34 others were below decks. four bodies have been found. 30 more still unaccounted for. we re told there are numerous fatalities. listen to the dispatcher on that mayday call, asking questions. roger, are they locked inside the boat? rorn roger, can you get back onboard and unlock the doors so they can get off? reporter: we cannot hear the answers and the coast guard says the boat was in compliance. bears repeating, 30 still missing. we are combing the shoreline.