Authorities have recovered at least four bodies from the fatal Santa Cruz, Calif., boat fire — and they’ve located another four on the bottom of the ocean floor, according to officials.
Dozens more are feared dead, with local police suspecting that their remains are still trapped inside the sunken vessel.
“This is probably the worst-case scenario you can have,” said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown at a press conference on Monday night.
Local officials provided an update on the recovery efforts, saying they had only come across eight victims so far.
“We have four actual bodies that have been delivered to our coroner’s bureau,” Brown said. Four others have been “spotted” on the ocean floor “in close proximity of the vessel.”
“[The boat] is upside down in relatively shallow water,” Brown explained, noting how receding tides were causing the scuba diving ship to sway and move, making it “unstable.”
“We’re unsure when we will be able to recover those bodies,” he told reporters.
Five members of the boat’s crew were rescued after the incident was first reported. The remaining 26 people who were on board were still missing as of 4:30 p.m. local time.
Brown said authorities would be working throughout the night and into the morning to locate any possible victims.
“We’re doing everything that we can to see if anyone could have survived this,” Brown said, repeatedly referring to the incident and rescue efforts as the “worst” possible scenario.
“It’s a vessel on the open sea in the middle of the night, its 3:30 in the morning … The sleeping compartment is on the bottom of the ship and they would be sound asleep … You couldn’t ask for a worse situation.”
Capt. Monica Rochester, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, told reporters that the ship — dubbed the Conception — was “in full compliance with regulatory requirements.”
“We will search all the way through the night, into the morning,” she said. “But we should all be prepared to move into the worst outcome.”
Officials said the four victims they recovered had suffered injuries consistent with drowning. Brown described them as two adult males and two adult females. He said they will need to be identified through DNA tests.
The cause of the fire was still under investigation on Monday night. Officials said the 75-foot-long Conception was completely engulfed in flames when first responders came upon it around 3:15 a.m.
“The crews were actively fighting the fire when the vessel began to sink,” Brown said. “The fire spread very, very rapidly.”
The passengers were on a Labor Day Weekend trip that began Aug. 31 and was scheduled to end Tuesday morning, according to officials.
“It’s a very tragic event,” Rochester said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom offered his condolences on Twitter.
“Our hearts are with the families and loved ones affected,” he tweeted. “We are eternally grateful for our heroic emergency medical workers that are on site — working to ensure every individual is found.”