Some 34 people were killed after a 75-foot dive boat caught fire and sank off Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Islands 20 miles off Southern California, early Labor Day morning. Only five people survived – four crew members and the captain. They had been on the upper deck and managed to jump into a dinghy and reach a nearby boat as the dive boat was engulfed in flames. The other 34 people (including one crew member) were all sleeping in bunk beds on a lower deck.
Capt. Monica Rochester of the Coast Guard said the Coast Guard heard a Mayday call at 3:28 a.m. on Labor Day saying the Conception, a commercial scuba diving boat, was engulfed in flames. “That’s all we received,” she said. Others who heard the Mayday said the caller was desperate. “I can’t breathe,” he screamed. The Coast Guard and local agencies responded with boats, helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. The Conception was anchored about 20 yards off the north side of Santa Cruz Island in Platts Harbor in 60 feet of water.
The five who escaped took the Conception‘s dinghy a few hundred yards to the nearest boat, the Grape Escape, a 60-foot fishing boat, which also was anchored in the harbor. They pounded on the hull and woke up the owners, Bob and Shirley Hanson. They were all frightened and wet; one had a broken leg.
Hanson told The New York Times that when he first saw the Conception it was on fire “from stem to stern.” He said he could see “fire coming through holes in the side of the boat. There were explosions every few beats.”
The rescue attempt was hampered by heavy fog. The Coast Guard said that the boat kept burning even as firefighters poured water into it. It sank later Monday morning. At daylight, officials searched on shore, hoping that some survivors had managed to swim off the boat. They did not find anyone.
Over the next two days, searchers recovered 20 bodies. The Coast Guard called off the search effort late Tuesday. Bill Brown, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff, said that everyone sleeping below was probably trapped when the fire blocked their escape routes.
“There was a stairwell to get down the main entryway, up and down, and there was an escape hatch. And it appeared as though both of those were blocked by the fire,” he said.
The NTSB sent 16 investigators to the scene, and they were trying to determine how the fire started.
Conception was launched in 1981 and had a capacity of 46 people. It was based in Santa Barbara Harbor. Capt. Rochester said the boat was in compliance with the Coast Guard. It left Santa Barbara on Saturday for a three-day scuba-diving cruise in the Channel Islands. It was due to return at 5 p.m. Monday. Read more:
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/california-boat-fire/index.html
