Grief over boat fire:

N. America

Just hours after a fire raced through a scuba diving boat, a memorial started sprouting up to commemorate the lives of 34 people who died trapped below decks.

Days later, it has all but enveloped the sprawling harbor boardwalk where the boat, the Conception, once docked in Santa Barbara. Hundreds of flowers, framed photographs, flags, candles, seashells, swim fins and other mementos stretched for yards, some accompanied by heartfelt expressions of grief.

“Our city is weeping for the dive group lost at sea. Our heart is breaking for their loved ones left behind,” read a sign with a large red heart intertwined with an anchor posted outside a paddle-board shop.

Across the harbor, behind a jetty, a second memorial grew Wednesday, with flowers framing a permanent plaque commemorating all those who have been lost at sea.

The poignant displays, though common following a tragedy, showed the impact of the fire on Santa Barbara, a picturesque community of historic buildings, hilltop mansions and pristine beaches. Many residents knew those who worked on the Conception or other boats like it or had dived from the decks themselves.

JJ Lambert, who arrived at the boardwalk with his fiancée, Jenna Marsala, recalled diving off the Conception when he was young.

Several of the victims were families on the boat to mark a birthday or just celebrate a good time, and Lambert, 38, wondered, “What father and son were going out there for a dive weekend?” As the boardwalk memorial grew, many people stopped to kneel quietly. (AP)