Owner of Santa Cruz dive company missing after Santa Barbara boat fire
The co-owner of a Santa Cruz-based diving company is missing after a boat she was on caught fire and sank early Monday off the coast of Southern California, killing at least four people and leaving many others missing.
Kristy Finstad — a diving instructor and marine biologist who runs Worldwide Diving Adventures out of Santa Cruz with her husband Dan Chua — was on the Conception, a 75-foot commercial diving vessel, helping to lead a weekend diving trip off the Channel Islands, according to a Facebook post by her brother, Brett Harmeling.
Reached by phone late Monday afternoon, Harmeling said he still hadn’t heard any information about his sister from officials, more than 12 hours after officials said the boat caught fire.
Harmeling didn’t want to comment further.
There were 39 people believed to be on board the boat, with 30 still considered missing as of Monday afternoon, authorities said.
Five crew members jumped off the boat and were evacuated by people on board a nearby boat, Grape Escape, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Two of the crew members had minor injuries, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the bodies of four people have been recovered, but so far could only be identified as two men and two women.
“Rescue and recovery efforts on the scene have located an additional four victims on the ocean floor, in close proximity to the vessel,” Brown added during a news conference Monday afternoon.
He said dive teams were working to recover those bodies, but he wasn’t sure when that would be complete, as the sunken boat is “unstable.”
Worldwide Diving Adventures was chartering the Conception for the Labor Day weekend diving trip, which was advertised on the website as a chance for divers to see colorful sea life up close near the Channel Islands, off the coast of Ventura County in Southern California.
The boat is owned by Santa Barbara-based Truth Aquatics, and departed from Santa Barbara harbor on the morning of Aug. 31, and was scheduled to return from the trip Monday, Brown said.
According to the company’s website and Facebook page, the company was founded in 1972 by Bill Finstad, and was handed off to Kristy Finstad when Bill retired.
Kristy’s husband Dan Chua also runs the business, but according a comment from Harmeling on his Facebook post, Chua is leading another dive trip off of Costa Rica when the fire happened in Southern California.