"Now They're Just Gone": A Family Of 5, High Schoolers, A Father And His Daughter Among California Boat Fire Victims - BuzzFeed News

Evita Olson, Facebook, Facebook/GoFundMe

Evita Olson still can't comprehend that just two weeks ago her sisters helped button her wedding dress and stood beside her when she took her vows, and "now they're just gone."

Evan Michael Quitasol, Nicole Quitasol, and Angela Quitasol were on a Labor Day diving trip with their father and stepmother when their boat erupted in flames off the Southern California coast, killing nearly everyone on board.

"The biggest thing for me is that on August 17 my sisters were in my wedding," Olson told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday night. "Angela was my maid of honor. She sang me a song for her maid of honor speech. Everything was so normal then...and now they're just gone."

Their mother, Susana Rosas, posted on Facebook Tuesday that her three daughters, their father, and his wife, were likely killed in the maritime tragedy in which 34 people lost their lives.

"It is with a broken heart ... 3 of our daughters were on this boat. As of now they are still missing," she wrote on the same day Coast Guard officials called off search efforts.

The family of five was celebrating Michael's birthday on Wednesday, their stepfather, Chris Rosas, told the Los Angeles Times. The sisters, he said, were "the most kind, most loving people I’ve ever met — and I’m not just saying that because they’re family."

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Michael Quitasol and his daughters.

Angela Quitasol, 28, had moved to Stockton several years ago and taught seventh-grade science at Sierra Middle School in the same area where she grew up.

"For Angela, students were her focus," Patty Kelley, the superintendent's executive assistant, said in a statement. "She shared her passion for science with them and greeted them every day with a high five and a bright smile."

Susana Rosas' eldest child, Evan Michael Quitasol, was a nurse at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Stockton, hospital officials confirmed. Her 31-year-old daughter, Nicole Quitasol, lived in Coronado where she worked at a sports bar. She loved the water and scuba diving, according to her Facebook page.

"Nicole was such a smart, loving, energetic and adventurous soul. She will be greatly missed," the bar's Bryn Butolph said, adding that the bar had set up a GoFundMe to help her mother with funeral costs for all five family members.

The girls' father, Michael Quitasol, and their stepmother, Fernisa Sison, worked at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in the Central Valley, the health care company confirmed.

The couple lived their lives "for their kids," Sison's daughter, Nisa Shinagawa, told KTXL, and often worked up to four jobs at a time to make ends meet. Once their children grew up, finished school, and could take care of themselves, they began to "put more time into the things they wanted to do, like diving," Shinagawa said.

"It was a dream of Micheal's to get back into scuba diving," she said. "When him and my mom got together, they wanted to start doing more things in their lives for themselves...they had lived their lives for us."

Michael Quitasol loved to scuba dive and the Labor Day adventure was his "annual trip," his children said.

"He's been on that boat multiple times, so many times annually...with that company and that boat," Dominic Selga told the Fox affiliate. "We have memories on that boat. We've been on that boat."

The Conception was well-known and beloved among the close-knit Southern California diving community. Many of the victims lived in the "Santa Cruz-San Jose-Bay Area region,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters.

Many people took to Facebook to share their memories and photos of family trips, reunions, and summer excursions to the Channel Islands, a diving destination known for its giant kelp forests and crystal clear waters.

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Kristy Finstad.

Kristy Finstad, a respected diving instructor and co-owner of Worldwide Diving Adventures, was helping lead the Labor Day weekend trip, her family said. Raised on the sea, the 41-year-old marine biologist learned how to scuba dive from her parents and studied aquatic biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also worked at the city's water department, according to her Facebook.

Finstad took over her family's Santa Cruz-based diving company in 2004, according to the website, and chronicled her adventures swimming beside newborn humpback whales, spotting rare dolphins, and weathering sea-sickness on long boat trips to the Tuamotu Islands.

“She’s extremely strong-willed and very adventurous,” her brother, Brett Harmeling, told the Times. “If there was a 1% chance of her making it, she would have made it.”

On Tuesday, he wrote on Facebook that he still had no "final word" on his sister, but it "is likely she has transitioned to be with the good Lord."

Schools also confirmed that they had lost students and teachers in the tragic accident. Fremont Unified School District said on Facebook Tuesday evening that Scott Chan, a physics teacher at American High School, and his daughter, Kendra, died in the fire.

"Mr. Chan taught AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C at American for the past three years. Mr. Chan was a beloved teacher at AHS among students and colleagues," the district said. "His students knew him to be an innovative and inspiring teacher who developed a passion for physics among his students. His loss is a tremendous tragedy for our school district.”

Chan's son, Kevin, posted a tribute to his big sister on Facebook, writing that he will miss her "love for all things outdoors and underwater. Rest easy."

Pacific Collegiate, a charter school in Santa Cruz, told the Mercury News that two students and the parents of a high schooler were on board the stricken boat.

"While this was not a school sponsored trip, our hearts and thoughts are with the families of the victims and those yet missing, particularly those of our students and parents on board," Pacific Collegiate said in a statement.

As news spread that officials had called off the search operation for the remaining passengers Tuesday, members of the California diving community began replacing their Facebook profile pictures with an image of a red and white-striped state encircled by a black ribbon to honor the victims and shared snippets about who they were.

Pacific Scuba Divers wrote that their "good friend and long time patron Scott and his daughter were on board among several other divers.”

"As the search goes on to find survivors from this awful tragedy, our heart goes out to families of Scott and other divers who were on the boat," the company said.

GoFundMe

Allie Kurtz.

Allie Kurtz, the only crew member who did not survive the fire, moved to California to "follow her dream," her mother told NBC News after arriving from Cincinnati to identify her daughter's body.

"She was a go-getter. She was just following her dream. She loved it here, she loved the boat, she loved diving," Cherie McDonough said from the flower-lined dock that's now become a memorial and gathering place for those mourning the victims.

The 25-year-old graduated from Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Art and moved to Los Angeles to find work in the entertainment industry before pursuing a career as a dive instructor, her father, Rob Kurtz, said in a GoFundMe post.

"Allie had a heart of gold, and lived her life on her terms. She left the movie industry to follow her love of boating and scuba diving," her father said. "The only sense of comfort right now is knowing she passed doing what she loved. I will always love you and will miss you forever! You became the pirate you wanted to be, now sail away."

2019-09-04 01:20:00Z
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/a-family-of-five-are-among-those-presumed-dead-in-the