Coast Guard Searches for 3 After Boat Catches Fire

Coast Guard cutters and helicopters searched the waters between Long Beach and Santa Catalina Island on Sunday for three people who were aboard a 65-foot pleasure boat that caught fire about 20 miles off the Long Beach coast.

The missing people--identified only as a 45-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy--are all from Van Nuys, authorities said. Coast Guard officials said they received an early morning distress call from the powerboat named Sundancer, but they lost contact before the caller could describe the location.

A short time later, a helicopter on a medical flight to Catalina spotted flames from the boat and directed rescue teams to the area. When the Coast Guard reached the burned vessel about 4:20 a.m., there was nobody aboard.

Coast Guard spokesman William Atkinson said rescue teams recovered a 27-person life raft and a partially burned dinghy from the site. He added, however, that the Sundancer carried a second life raft, which is missing.

Officials said the Sundancer had burned to the waterline, but did not sink.

Atkinson said the boat, whose home port is Marina del Rey, is owned by a corporation, which he declined to identify.

The search ended Sunday and was to resume at 6 a.m. today.

He said the Coast Guard had not received any calls Sunday reporting missing people.

Choppy waters made the search for survivors difficult, with wind-driven waves reaching 10 feet, Atkinson said.