Stamford couple among 33 killed in Calif. boat fire
A couple from Stamford were among the 34 people killed in a boat fire in California this week.
The two local victims are Kaustubh Nirmal and Sanjeeri Deopujari.
Deopujari, 31, was a dentist at Aspen Dental on Main Avenue in Norwalk.
Nimral, 44, was business analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York City.
The couple, who were married in December 2016, lived in an apartment building at 50 Forest St.
A concierge at the building would not speak to a reporter or let him on the premises Friday.
Nirmal’s cousin, Rajul Sharma told the Los Angeles Times, they were the perfect couple.
“He found a soulmate in Sanjeeri,” Sharma said. “Their love for each other was apparent even without them speaking about it.”
Sharma told the Times he had known Nirmal since “the day he was born.” He described him as an animal lover, sensitive and polite.
“God took them away from us untimely and unfairly, but even he didn’t have the heart to separate them in death,” he told the Los Angels Times.
According to the Times of India, Nirmal grew up in Jaipur, and Deopujari was from Nagpur in central India.
Deopujari was the daughter of Satish Deopujari, a Nagpurbased pediatrician.
“The entire family is in a state of shock,” Dr Deopujari’s brother, Kishor, told the India Times.
All those lost in the Labor Day fire aboard the Conception were sleeping in a bunkroom below the main deck when fire broke out around 3 a.m. The captain and four crew were above and survived.
Earlier this week, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said the captain of Conception made a mayday call before leaving the boat. Brown said it’s believed the 34 victims never got out of the bunkroom because flames blocked the stairway and the emergency hatch.
Searchers recovered 33 bodies and continued searching Thursday in the waters just off Santa Cruz Island for the lone remaining victim.