A large boat burning off the coast of California on Monday morning sent authorities racing to evacuate the dozens of people on board, according to officials and news reports.
While many of the details remained unclear — with conflicting information between agencies about the number of casualties — authorities said on social media that the boat fire was reported about 3:30 a.m. near Santa Cruz Island, some 20 miles away from Southern California.
Photos showed fire ravaging the vessel, which was described as a 75-foot dive boat. Fire officials said the boat was the Conception, based in the Santa Barbara Harbor.
According to CNN, citing the Coast Guard, there were 34 people aboard, though a Santa Barbara fire spokesman tweeted that there were 34 people still missing after five were rescued.
The Coast Guard originally tweeted that there were “more than 30 people in distress.”
Some crew members were saved, with one who had minor injuries, while officials worked to evacuate the others, the Coast Guard tweeted.
It appears the Conception had been on a three-day Labor Day diving cruise at the time of the fire, according to the website for a local excursion company.
“Many on the boat were believed to be sleeping below deck when the fire broke out and appear to have been trapped,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“We don’t have a confirmed number of souls that were supposed to be onboard that boat,” Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Brian McGrath said, according to the Times. “We do have fatalities aboard, but we do not know the numbers here yet.”
More information was set to be released later, the Coast Guard tweeted.
Responding agencies, including the Coast Guard, were not immediately available to comment to PEOPLE.
This is a breaking news story. Please return for updates.
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