Fatal fire on scuba boat prompts scrutiny of regulations
The Conception dive boat was based at Santa Barbara Harbor.
The boat had long operated with a modern fire-suppression system in its engine room and was deemed safe to sail, having passed a Coast Guard inspection as recently as February that required smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
But that apparently was not enough to stop the fire that overtook the Conception in the early morning hours of Labour Day, leaving 34 people dead and prompting increased scrutiny about whether regulations in place to prevent such tragedies go far enough.
Though the cause of the fire is unknown, the scope of Monday’s devastation has left industry experts and officials baffled at how Truth Aquatics, a respected boat operator, lost an entire excursion of people inside the hull of a ship outfitted with safety systems intended to protect any such vessel.
A team from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived in California on Tuesday to begin investigating the fire.
The deadly fire near the Channel Islands, a national park on the California coast, was the state’s worst maritime disaster in recent memory.
Rescuers initially recovered four bodies 145 kilometres northwest of Los Angeles just off Santa Cruz Island, and 16 others were pulled from the water later in the day. The Coast Guard says five others have been found but were not recovered due to unsafe conditions under the boat, which sank about 20 metres from shore.
Five crew members escaped, including the captain, and were the only ones to survive. The boat, a 23-metre scuba vessel, had 39 people on board.