Boat owner blamed for 2019 fatal fire
LOS ANGELES — The lack of oversight by a Southern California boat owner led to a fire that killed 34 people on a 2019 scuba diving excursion, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled Tuesday.
The predawn fire aboard the Conception is one of California’s deadliest maritime disasters, prompting criminal and safety investigations. The Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy killed 33 passengers and one crew member on a Labor Day weekend expedition near an island off Santa Barbara.
The five-member board voted unanimously to place blame for the fire on the Conception’s owner, Truth Aquatics Inc.
The absence of the required roving patrol, investigators said, delayed detection of the fire, allowing it to grow beyond the six-member crew’s firefighting capabilities, hampering evacuation efforts and directly leading to the high number of fatalities.
Investigators said that because the boat burned and sank, they couldn’t determine exactly what caused the fire. But they found that it began toward the back of the main deck salon area, where divers had plugged in phones, flashlights and other items with lithium ion batteries that can spread flames quickly.
The safety board also said inadequate Coast Guard regulations contributed to the high death toll, such as a lack of a requirement for smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces and poor emergency escape arrangements. The board passed several recommendations to suggest to the Coast Guard.