Divers have found 25 bodies while searching underwater for victims of a horror boat fire off the coast of southern California.
Nine others are still missing following the blaze that swept through the Conception scuba diving boat in the early hours of Monday morning.
The search for those people, who are feared dead, was continuing off of Santa Cruz Island, about 90 miles north-west of Los Angeles.
Marine biologist Kristy Finstad, 41, was helping to lead the diving expedition when the boat caught fire and is amongst those feared to have died in the tragedy.
Her brother, Brett Harmeling, 31, said on Facebook: "Please pray for my sister Kristy!! She was leading a dive trip on this boat."
Finstad and her husband, Dan Chua, co-owned Worldwide Diving Adventures, the company which had organised the trip.
Chua was not with his wife at the time of the tragedy and was reported to have been in Costa Rica where he was leading a separate diving expedition.
A 17-year-old girl who was celebrating her birthday with her parents onboard the Conception is also feared to be among the potential victims, the Daily Mail reported.
Passengers were trapped as they slept in the 75ft boat's lower quarters.
Five of six crew members who were above deck survived the predawn inferno by jumping off the burning vessel into an inflatable boat.
The fire broke out aboard the Conception at about 3.15am local time on Monday - on Labor Day, a national holiday - while it was moored just off the shore of Santa Cruz Island.
The Conception, which launched in 1981, embarked for California's Channel Islands on Saturday morning with 39 people on board.
Firefighters desperately tried to extinguish the blaze, which had spread through the vessel.
The surviving crew members sought refuge on a fishing boat moored a few hundred feet away, banging on the side to wake up Bob Hansen and his wife, who were sleeping onboard.
Mr Hansen told the New York Times: "When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern.
"There were these explosions every few beats. You can't prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous."
After borrowing clothes from the Hansens, some crew members headed back toward the Conception to look for survivors without luck, Mr Hansen said.
Investigators said a single mayday call came from the boat reporting the fire.
The diving boat was chartered by Worldwide Diving Adventures, a Santa Barbara-based excursion firm.
It said on its website that the Conception was on a three-day excursion to the Channel Islands.
The vessel was due back in Santa Barbara at 5pm on Monday.
A spokesperson for the boat's owner, Truth Aquatics, said: "This is still an ongoing search and rescue."
