Lack of oversight caused deadly dive boat inferno
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 fivemember board voted unanimously to place the deadly fire’s blame with the Conception’s owner, Truth Aquatics Inc.
The NTSB 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 approved several recommendations to suggest to the Coast Guard.
The NTSB does not have enforcement powers and must submit its suggestions for safety enhancements to bodies like the Federal Aviation Administration or the Coast Guard, which have repeatedly rejected some of the board’s safety recommendations after other disasters.
“The Coast Guard will carefully consider the
National Transportation Safety Board’s recommendations through a deliberate process, which will include review by all subject matter experts and senior leaders responsible for implementing the potential regulatory changes,” Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride said in a statement.
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.
Investigators told the NTSB that because some of the recovered bodies were wearing shoes, they believe the victims were awake and trying to escape before being overcome with smoke. Coroner reports list smoke inhalation as the cause of death for all.
The absence of the required roving patrol, investigators said, delayed detection of the fire, allowing it to grow beyond the sixmember crew’s firefighting capabilities, hampering evacuation efforts and directly leading to the high number of fatalities.
Board member Jennifer Homendy blasted the captain, Jerry Boylan, and Truth Aquatics during the hearing. She said the tragedy shouldn’t be called an accident.
“I hate the term accident in this case because, in my opinion, it is not an accident if you fail to operate your company safely,” Homendy said.
Five crew members, including Boylan, were asleep in the upper deck when the fire broke out around 3 a. m. in an area above the only escape hatch to the bunk room where the passengers and a single crew member were sleeping. Boylan and the four other crewmen escaped by jumping into the water.