The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report indicating that all five crew members were asleep when the Conception scuba boat caught fire in California. Under federal law, there should have been a night watchman.
The 75-foot-long scuba-diving boat was destroyed by the fire off the coast of California, killing all 34 passengers sleeping below deck while all crew members managed to survive. According to the NTSB, the cause of the fire is still being determined but according to some of the crew, there were no reports of mechanical or electrical problems on the boat.
The boat, owned and operated by Truth Aquatics Inc., was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, about 90 miles west of Los Angeles when it went ablaze. It was on a three-day diving trip to the Channel Islands and the fire happened on the last night of the trip.
The body of the last victim was recovered from the water on Monday, September 9, by rescue crew and all passengers were believed to have died of smoke inhalation. the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office tweeted "DNA testing is still being conducted to confirm identities of 7 of the 34 victims recovered."
According to the NTSB report, one of the crew members "was awakened by a noise and got up to investigate" when he "saw a fire at the aft end of the sun deck, rising up from the salon compartment below". The other crew members were notified and then they went down to the main deck and attempted to reach the sleeping passengers in the main salon. One crew member broke a leg in the process.
The crew jumped overboard and swam to the other end of the boat to reboard when their pat got blocked by fire and smoke. Still unable to reach the passenger quarters, they decided to launch a small skiff and transferred to a nearby boat. The captain continued radioing for help while two crew members tried to return to the vessel to search for survivors.
