Criminal probe of boat fire underway
Joint investigation involves FBI, ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office
U.S. officials are conducting a criminal investigation into the boat fire that killed 34 people — many of them Bay Area residents — on a diving trip off the coast of Southern California last week, according to an Associated Press report.
A spokesman with the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed to this news organization that federal agents obtained search warrants to raid the Santa Barbara office of the boat’s owner, Truth Aquatics Inc., as well as the company’s two other boats.
The Coast Guard, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office executed the search warrants in Santa Barbara, he said, adding that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is “participating in the joint investigation.”
Asked if the probe is a criminal one, he said, “Because the search warrants in this matter were sealed by the court, I’m not going to discuss the scope or nature of the investigation.”
Since the dive boat Conception caught fire just after 3 a.m. Sept. 2, killing
33 passengers and one crew member who were all trapped below deck, investigators have been gathering evidence to determine the cause of the blaze, including interviewing the surviving crew, according to officials.
Investigators are exploring whether the boat’s crew followed safety requirements, such as having a roving night watchman on duty when the fire torched the boat, officials from the
Coast Guard and National Transportation and Safety Board said last week.
According to the AP, if prosecutors bring charges, they would likely apply a federal law known as the Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute, which carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Officials have not said yet whether the fire’s cause or exact originating location has been determined. Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said Friday that early analyses of the victims has indicated they died of smoke inhalation before being burned.
Truth Aquatics has filed a preemptive lawsuit to avoid liability in the case, citing a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit legal exposure in the disaster. The suit states that Truth Aquatics and its owners, Glen and Dana Fritzler, made the boat seaworthy and properly staffed and equipped it, and that anyone who files a claim against the company, such as victims’ families, will be served with a legal notice asserting the company is not liable for damages.
First responders have found 33 of the 34 people missing since the fire,
but windy conditions have made the search for the last victim and salvage of the submerged boat difficult, according to officials. The boat is upside down under 65 feet of water.
The tragedy has left California communities reeling, including in the Bay Area, where many of the victims lived.
Among the victims were Raymond Scott Chan, a Los Altos resident and physics teacher at American High School in Fremont, and his daughter Kendra. Also on board were Steve Salika, his wife, Diana Adamic, and their daughter Tia Salika,
who attended Pacific Collegiate School and was celebrating her 17th birthday, as was Berenice Felipe, who attended the same Santa Cruz high school.
Kristy Finstad, co-owner of a Santa Cruz-based diving company, also was on the boat, according to family members, as were Berkeley residents Daniel Garcia, 46, and Yulia Krashennaya, 40, and Oakland resident Caroline McLaughlin, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Also on board were five members of a Stockton family who had been celebrating
the birthday of Michael Quitasol, a registered nurse in his early 60s who had worked at Kaiser Permanente medical centers in Modesto and Manteca. Quitasol had been traveling with his partner, Fernisa June Sison, also a nurse who had worked at St. Joseph’s Medical Center, and three of his daughters, Evanmichel, Angela and Nicole Quitasol.
The victims also included a Mill Valley woman and others from across California and the U.S.