Punjab-origin scientist, Indian couple killed in California boat fire

Los Angeles: A US-based Indian couple and a Punjab-origin scientist were among those who died from smoke inhalation when they were trapped on a boat packed with scuba divers that caught fire and sank off the California coast, according to media reports.

On Monday, a massive fire broke out on the 75-foot charter boat called “Conception” when the passengers were sleeping below the deck. The fire engulfed the deck, killing 34 people, including one crew member. Five crew members who were above the deck escaped by jumping overboard.

Punjab-origin scientist Sunil Singh Sandhu, 46, was also there on a dive vessel that sank off Santa Barbara in California. Sandhu lived and worked in the US for more than two decades and took up scuba diving only recently, his family in Singapore was quoted as saying by Singapore-based The New Paper.

Sandhu earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the Stanford University and worked as a scientist at a Palo Alto research company.

He was a newcomer to scuba diving, picking up the sport two months before his death. “I didn’t know that he was going for another trip,” his father, Soji Singh said. “I had been trying to persuade him to come back to Singapore,” he said.

Indian couple, Kaustubh Nirmal and Sanjeeri Deopujari were also among the people who died aboard the vessel, during a three-day diving excursion. Deopujari, 31, was a dentist in Norwalk while her husband, Nirmal, 44, worked as a senior adviser at Ernst & Young, the New York Post reported.

They were married two and a half years ago and were “the perfect couple,” said Nirmal’s cousin, Rajul Sharma, told the Los Angeles Times.

The ship carried 33 passengers and 6 crew members, and only five of the crew sleeping on the top deck were able to escape by jumping off and taking a small boat to safety, the US officials had said.