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The United States Coast Guard late Monday found 25 bodies and was searching for nine others off the coast of Southern California after a dive boat filled with scuba enthusiasts caught fire before dawn on Monday.

A marine biologist from California who was described by family as a ‘free spirit’ and a 17-year-old girl who was celebrating a birthday with her parents are among the more than two dozen people feared dead after a fire engulfed the Conception off the coast of Santa Barbara.

Kristy Finstad, 41, of Santa Cruz was among the divers helping to lead the expedition aboard the Conception, which caught fire in the early morning hours on Monday.

Finstad’s brother, Brett Harmeling, 31, posted a message on his Facebook page which read: ‘Please pray for my sister Kristy!! She was leading a dive trip on this boat.’

Kristy Finstad, 41, of Santa Cruz was among the divers helping to lead the expedition aboard the Conception, which caught fire in the early morning hours on Monday

Dozens of people are feared to have died after a 75-foot dive boat burst into flames off the coast of California early Monday. Officials say five people have been rescued, four bodies recovered, four more bodies have been spotted on ocean floor, and 26 are currently missing

Finstad is seen left alongside her husband, Dan Chua, in this undated file photo. The couple helped organize the weekend diving expedition through their family-owned company, Worldwide Diving Adventures

Finstad's brother said that Chua did not join his wife for the diving expedition in California. Instead, he was leading a separate trip in Costa Rica

‘We’re still waiting to hear, unfortunately,’ Harmeling told the New York Daily News.

‘It’s not looking good.’

Finstad helped organize the trip with her husband, Dan Chua, through their family-owned company, Worldwide Diving Adventures.

The Conception was chartered by Worldwide Diving Adventures, which says on its website that it has been taking divers on such expeditions since the 1970s.

It was owned and operated by Truth Aquatics, a Santa Barbara-based company founded in 1974.

Chua did not accompany his wife on the trip. Instead, he was leading a separate diving expedition in Costa Rica, according to Harmeling.

‘She’s done this trip hundreds of times,’ Harmeling told the News.

Divers were charged $665 per person for a three-night stay aboard the boat. The weekend trip included scuba excursions that offered a chance to see marine wildlife in the waters surrounding the Channel Islands.

Harmeling said that if anyone could survive a fire, it would be his sister.

The vessel was anchored by Platts Harbor on the north side of Santa Cruz Island when it caught fire in the middle of the night

Emergency crews received a call about the fire just before 3.30am local time on Monday, and rescue efforts involving multiple agencies continued for several hours. At 8am an official reported the boat had burned down to the water line 

Crews from the Coast Guard, Santa Barbara Fire Department, Ventura County Fire Department and Vessel Assist responded to the scene, along with multiple personal watercraft in the area 

This image made from video released by TowBoatUS Ventura shows an emergency responder dousing Conception before it sank off Santa Cruz Island early Monday morning

‘She’d be the person who could make it if it’s possible,’ he said.

‘She could hold her breath for an insane amount of time. It just doesn’t sound like there was a chance for anyone to get out.

‘She’s a very strong, strong woman...but they’ve been searching for a long time already.’

Also among those feared dead are a 17-year-old girl and her parents who booked the trip to celebrate her birthday just hours before the fire broke out, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

A fire raged through the boat early Monday, leaving at least eight people dead and hope diminishing that any of the 26 people still missing would be found alive.

Five crew members escaped by jumping off the boat and taking refuge on an inflatable boat.

Rescuers recovered four bodies from the waters just off Santa Cruz Island and spotted four others on the ocean near where fire-raged boat sank.

They were continuing to search for survivors, but Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester cautioned that it was unlikely anyone else would be found alive.

‘We will search all the way through the night into the morning, but I think we should all be prepared to move into the worst outcome,’ she told an afternoon news conference.

Santa Barbara City Search and Rescue officers move a recovered body on the dock at Santa Barbara Harbor on Monday

 Lt Cmdr Matthew Kroll told AP the bodies recovered on Monday morning had injuries consistent with drowning

The majority of Conception's passengers have still not been located hours after the fire 

People hug each other as they await news outside of the Truth Aquatics office in Santa Barbara on Monday

The dive boat called Conception was anchored on the north side of Santa Cruz Island when it went up in flames

The four bodies plucked from the ocean about 90 miles northwest of Los Angeles all had injuries consistent with drowning, said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Kroll.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the bodies on the ocean floor might be retrieved or when divers could search the boat for others.

‘It’s upside down in relatively shallow water with receding tides that are moving it around,’ Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.

The fire broke out aboard the vessel Conception around 3am off Santa Cruz Island, part of a chain of rugged wind-swept isles that form Channel Islands National Park in the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles.

The five crew members who escaped were rescued by a good Samaritan boat called The Grape Escape that was anchored nearby.

Two suffered minor injuries, Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney said.

The Grape Escape’s owners, Bob and Shirley Hansen, told The New York Times they were asleep when they heard pounding on the side of their 60-foot fishing vessel about 3:30 a.m. and discovered the frightened crew members.

The Grape Escape, whose crew helped rescue the Conception crew, is seen at the Coast Guard Station Channel Islands

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing as of 10am Monday. USCS vessels are seen returning to the Coast Guard Station Channel Islands in Oxnard for refueling

The image above shows the man believed to be Jerry Boylan, the captain of the Conception

Coast Guard Captain Monica Rochester, Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach, is seen at a press conference in Oxnard

They told the couple they fled when the fire grew out of control.

‘When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern,’ Hansen said, estimating it was no more than 100 yards from his craft.

‘I could see the fire coming through holes on the side of the boat. There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.

‘The fire was too big, there was absolutely nothing we could do,’ he added.

Hansen said he and his wife gave the crew clothes and two of them went back toward the Conception looking for survivors.

Asked at a news conference if the crew tried to help others aboard, Rochester told reporters, ‘I don’t have any additional information.’

Rochester said the 75-foot commercial scuba diving vessel was anchored in Platts Harbor, about 20 yards off the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island, when the fire ignited.

The Conception, based in Santa Barbara Harbor on the mainland, was on the final day of a Labor Day weekend cruise to the Channel Islands when the fire erupted.

‘At 3:15 this morning the Coast Guard overheard a mayday call. The call was garbled, it was not that clear, but we were able to get some information out of it to send vessels on scene,’ Barney said.

Rochester said that call indicated the boat was already fully ablaze.

Four of the crew members who made it off the boat were transported to the hospital. First responders are seen bringing an injured man to an ambulance at Channel Island Harbor in Oxnard

Two of the people rescued from the boat are being treated for leg injuries

A man draped in blankets is seen being loaded into an ambulance on a gurney after being rescued from the boat

An ambulance is pictured at the scene where casualties and walking wounded were being brought in from the boat

The captain of the Grape Escape, whose crew rescued the Conception crew members after the blaze broke out, is seen with first responders at Channel Island Harbor on Monday morning

Brown said the elements of the tragedy were daunting for rescuers: The boat was in a remote location with limited firefighting capabilities, passengers were sleeping below deck in the middle of the night and there was a quick-moving fire.

‘You couldn’t ask for a worse situation,’ the sheriff said.

Coast Guard records show inspections of the Conception conducted last February and in August 2018 found no deficiencies. Earlier inspections found some safety violations related to fire safety.

A 2016 inspection resulted in owners replacing the heat detector in the galley and one in 2014 cited a leaky fire hose.

Records show all safety violations from the last five years were quickly addressed by the boat’s owners.

Dave Reid, who runs an underwater camera business with his wife and who has traveled on the Conception and two other boats in Truth Aquatics’ fleet, said he considered all three among the best and safest dive-boats around.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, middle, watches as Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester, right, approaches the podium outside of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's headquarters for a news conference in Santa Barbara on Monday

Colin Martz, 16, an intern at Santa Barbara Sailing Center, places flowers at a dolphin statue at Santa Barbara Harbor in Santa Barbara on Monday

Relatives of those on board the vessel arrive at a family assistance center set up by authorities in Santa Barbara on Monday 

James Miranda, left, of Santa Barbara, takes a moment at a dock near the Sea Landing at Santa Barbara Harbor

Orlando Aldana, 42, of Santa Barbara, bought 34 candles in honor of the victims to place at the growing memorial for those caught in the fire on the Conception boat

The image above shows a pair of diving fins and flowers at a memorial wall near the Truth Aquatics moorings where the boat that burned and sank off the Santa Cruz islands early in the morning was based

Flowers float in the water near the Sea Landing at Santa Barbara Harbor on Monday

‘When you see the boats they are always immaculate,’ he said.

‘I wouldn’t hesitate at all to go on one again. Of all the boat companies, that would be one of the ones I wouldn’t think this would happen to.’

Reid said divers sleep overnight in an open bunk room on the vessel’s lowest deck.

Coming up to the top deck to get off the boat requires navigating a narrow stairway with only one exit.

If the fire was fast-moving, he said, it’s very likely divers couldn’t escape and the crew couldn’t get to them.

The sleeping area is also near the bow, engine and where diving gear is kept, adding to the difficulty of getting out quickly, he said.

‘If there was an explosion in the engine area that could have gone right into the sleeping area,’ he said.

The National Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team to investigate.

Truth Aquatics’ website reports the vessel, launched in 1981, has rafts and life jackets for up to 110 passengers and exits on the port, starboard and bow that provide ‘easy water entry.’

The trip promised multiple opportunities to see colorful coral and a rich variety of marine life around the Channel Islands, which draw boaters, divers and hikers.

Five of the eight Channel Islands comprise the national park and Santa Cruz is the largest within the park at about 96 square miles. 

The boat is owned by diving company Truth Aquatics and based in Santa Barbara Harbor (stock image)

Conception reportedly departed from Santa Barbara Harbor on Friday night for a Labor Day weekend trip to the pinnacles of San Miguel Island and was expected to return Monday evening, according to the Truth Aquatics website (stock image)

The dive boat has bunk space for up to 46 passengers. The interior layout is seen above

Conception departed from Santa Barbara Harbor early Saturday for a Labor Day weekend trip to San Miguel Island and was expected to return Monday evening, according to the Truth Aquatics website. The route is seen in the map above

Santa Cruz Island is about 18 miles from the California mainland and about 60 miles west of Los Angeles (file photo)