34 people are missing Monday morning after a scuba expedition caught fire near Santa Cruz Island, California; with officials saying just five people have been rescued from the inferno.
“Fox affiliate KTTV earlier confirmed there were nearly three dozen fatalities, but Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr Matthew Kroll told Fox News the 34 people were unaccounted for from a commercial diving ship. The captain of the boat was helping with the rescue. Four other people were rescued. Lt. Cmdr Kroll later confirmed the ship sunk near the north shore of Santa Cruz Island after taking on water,” reports Fox News.
“The Associated Press quoted Kroll as saying that those who had not been accounted for were sleeping below deck and those who had been rescued were crewmembers sleeping on top of the deck,” adds Fox.
“The Coast Guard has launched multiple rescue assets along with assets from local agencies to assist more than 30 people in distress on a 75ft boat near Santa Cruz Island,” Coast Guard LA said in a tweet shortly before 5 a.m. local time.
#CoastInc: @VCFD responded to boat fire off the north side of Santa Cruz Island at approximately 3:28am. @USCG helping support rescue operations for people aboard a dive boat. #ChannelIslands @USCGLosAngeles @CountyVentura @SBCOUNTYFIRE pic.twitter.com/DwoPGfBjtA
— VCFD PIO (@VCFD_PIO) September 2, 2019
Update: The dive boat, named Conception, caught fire while anchored off Santa Cruz Island early Monday, per Santa Barbara County Fire Dept. 5 people have been rescued and 34 remained missing, agency says https://t.co/IEgvYnPTZP pic.twitter.com/b0SzQqWbme
— KTLA (@KTLA) September 2, 2019
What we know the boat fire off Santa Cruz Island:
– 5 rescued, 34 missing
– Fire reported shortly before 3:30 a.m.
– Boak sank and is in 65 feet of water
– Part of a 3-day Labor Day weekend diving trip https://t.co/umrj74b4B5— LAist (@LAist) September 2, 2019
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
AMERICA UNLEASHED: January Job Growth ‘SHATTERS’ Expectations, +304K Positions
The American economy continued to soar under President Trump during the first weeks of 2019; “shattering” expectations and posting over 300,000 new positions in January alone.
“Job growth in January shattered expectations, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 304,000 despite a partial government shutdown that was the longest in history, the Labor Department reported Friday,” reports CNBC.
“Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected payrolls to rise by 170,000 and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 3.9 percent,” adds the report.
The strong economic data comes just weeks after President Trump ended the longest shutdown in US history; giving Congress a mid-February deadline to reach a bipartisan budget agreement or face another potential government gridlock.
Read the full report at CNBC.
A NEW LOW: Dem. Rep. Directly Compares US Border Agents with NAZI Collaborators During WWII
Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon stunned reporters and audience members this week when she directly compared US Border Patrol Agents with those who simply “followed orders” from the Nazi regime during World War II.
Scanlon was speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing when she launched into her bizarre rant; saying “Just following orders is no more an excuse today than it was back in Germany.”
“When you say that the cause of migration is legal loopholes or bad judicial decisions, rather than the dire conditions of violence and poverty in these people’s home countries that’s literally driving them from home, I think it’s easier to slam the door against these kids and these families,” she said. “This hearing is a recognition and an insistence that on that humanity … a recognition that just following orders is no more an excuse today than it was back in Germany.”