Norwalk Dentist Among Those Dead In California Boat Fire: Report

STAMFORD, CT — A Stamford couple, one of which worked in Norwalk, were among those killed in a boat fire off the California coast this week that claimed at least 34 lives, according to media reports.

The Times of India reports the local couple is Kaustubh Nirmal and Sanjeeri Deopujari, who lived in Stamford.

Deopujari, 31, worked as a dentist at Aspen Dental on Main Avenue in Norwalk, and Nirmal was a business analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York City, according to the Stamford Advocate. They both lived in an apartment on Forest Street.

Nirmal's cousin, Rajul Sharma, told the Los Angeles Times the pair had married two and a half years ago and were "the perfect couple."

"Their love for each other was apparent even without them speaking about it," Sharma told the Los Angeles Times. "God took them away from us untimely and unfairly, but even he didn't have the heart to separate them in death."

According to the Times of India, Deopujari was from Nagpur and Nirmal grew up in Jaipur in India.

Thirty-nine passengers and crew members departed Santa Barbara Harbor on Saturday, Aug. 31, aboard the boat called Conception for a Labor Day weekend trip.

The Coast Guard's Los Angeles/Long Beach station received a mayday call around 3:15 a.m. Monday of the engulfed 75-foot commercial diving boat off the north shore of Santa Cruz Island near Platt's Harbor in Santa Barbara County.

Crews from the Coast Guard, Santa Barbara Fire and Ventura County Fire fought the flames, but around 7:20 a.m. the boat sank 20 yards offshore in 64 feet of water, according to the Coast Guard.

Divers with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department assisted in the search. Personnel from the Long Beach Police Department helped establish a security perimeter.

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for survivors Tuesday morning. It is presumed 34 people perished in the boat fire.

Includes previous reporting by Kristina Houck, Patch Staff