U.S. Coast Guard suspends search for survivors in Labor Day boat fire

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for survivors of a Labor Day boat fire off the California coast.

Twenty bodies were recovered during yesterday’s search. They were identified as 11 women and nine men, according to the Santa Barbara County sheriff’s department.

Of the 39 total passengers on board the dive boat Conception, only five people were found alive. The five survivors are all crew members.

The sheriff’s department said investigators would be working to compare DNA samples from the bodies with samples from relatives of the victims.

The boat was on the last day of a three-day scuba diving trip when it caught fire.