GUILTY CA - Boat fire near Santa Cruz Island; 34 missing, Sept 2019 *captain charged*

[Inthedetails]

See my post #107

The person calling for help said the passengers cannot get off. It was the dispatcher who used the term "locked."

I think "trapped" would be the accurate word, but we'll find out soon enough.

jmo

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Great. Please update us with a summary if you can.

jmo

I sure will. I have been so upset since hearing it this afternoon.

Fox should have the breaking news up soon online.

 

[Inthedetails]

It's coming up after the break. Her lead in said the drivers below may have been locked in while the Captain, and crew survived.

Imo

That's crazy, if true. Really hard to believe, but I will believe it if that is what the crew and captain say. I can't think of any reason to lock in people while they sleep on a boat with no egress. Very unsafe. Obviously.

jmo

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"Secondary egress routes from guests' quarters may be a safety weakness in dive boats," Ricketts says. "While the layouts are acceptable in event of engine fires, galley fires are another matter."

Diving enthusiast Joseph Catmull, 59, an attorney who has sailed on Truth vessels in the past, concurred, telling USA TODAY, "If the entry to the berth was blocked, it is my recollection, on that boat, there is only one exit and entrance, a staircase you may have seen in some of the website photos. So it isn't hard to imagine that a fire could have caused tragedy."

Family physician Aaron Roland, 62, tells USA TODAY that he, too, has been on the Conception and that it had only one exit from below decks, meaning passengers "have to go up stairs and through the gallery and cabin to get outside."

He says he finds it "hard to understand why two exits (are) not required."

Roland says he read a report on Twitter that the Conception has an emergency exit behind the bunk room but that he was never told about it during the onboard safety briefing for his dive trip.
California dive-boat fire highlights need for more than one exit from sleeping quarters

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Rochester said the crew was likely able to escape because they were awake and above deck when then fire broke out.

A call from the Coast Guard revealed details about the fire and response. A dispatcher can be heard asking and confirming that people on the boat were locked below deck. Only the dispatcher's side of the call can be heard.

"There is no escape hatch for any of the people on board," he is heard saying in the call below.
'There is no escape hatch for any of the people on board' | Coast Guard distress calls reveal details of boat fire near Santa Cruz Island

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Okay all can be heard is the dispatcher, but I believe the dispatcher is repeating what the captain is telling them.

Either way it's horrible. They must have another way to get out. If not it becomes nothing but a coffin for all below.

Jmho

 

[oceanblueeyes]

Rochester said the crew was likely able to escape because they were awake and above deck when then fire broke out.

A call from the Coast Guard revealed details about the fire and response. A dispatcher can be heard asking and confirming that people on the boat were locked below deck. Only the dispatcher's side of the call can be heard.

"There is no escape hatch for any of the people on board," he is heard saying in the call below.
'There is no escape hatch for any of the people on board' | Coast Guard distress calls reveal details of boat fire near Santa Cruz Island

Thank you.

They have found more bodies. 8 so far.

Bless them all.

 

[kaen]

I think it was only the dispatcher that said the word "locked", while the captain (man, in the transcript) said,



The LA Times posted this transcript of the call ('I can’t breathe.... there's no escape hatch': Dramatic mayday call from California boat on fire):

Man, around 3:15 a.m.: “Mayday, mayday, mayday! ... Conception ... north side of Santa Cruz.” (He’s broken up by static.)

Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach dispatcher asks position and number of people on board.

Man: “I can’t breathe.” ... (garbled)

Dispatcher: “You have 29 persons on board and you can’t breathe? What is your current GPS position?”

(Another man calls in who heard the distress call and is over by Anacapa Island.)

There’s some garbled space and back-and-forth for a few minutes as dispatchers try to reach anyone from the boat.

A frantic man can be heard:

“Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception!” ...

Dispatch:“Your vessel is on fire? Is that correct? ... Are you on board the Conception?”

Man: “Roger, there’s 33 people that’s on board the vessel that’s on fire. They can’t get off.”

Dispatch: “Roger, are they locked inside the boat? Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the door so they can get off? Roger, you don’t have any firefighting gear, no fire extinguishers or anything?”

Dispatch: “Roger, is this the captain of the Conception?”


Man: “Roger”

Dispatch: “Was that all the crew that jumped off?”

Man: “Roger”

Dispatch: “Is the vessel fully engulfed now?”

Man: “Roger, and there’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board.”

 

[imstilla.grandma]

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for an investigation into the deaths.

"It's inconceivable that with all the safety regulations we have in place today, a fire on a boat can lead to the loss of life we saw this morning near Santa Cruz Island," she said Monday afternoon.

"We need an immediate and robust interagency investigation. The Coast Guard, along with officials from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, are already hard at work. Once personnel from the NTSB and FBI join the effort tomorrow, we must learn as much as possible about how this happened and how future tragedies can be prevented."
'There is no escape hatch for any of the people on board' | Coast Guard distress calls reveal details of boat fire near Santa Cruz Island

 

[imstilla.grandma]

 

[Tssiemer]

Omg. Horrific.

 

[kaen]

It seems that the boat was in compliance with what was required of them to do. This investigation into this tragedy will certainly raise the questions about what safety measures should be required and what regulations will need to change.

From CNN:

"The crewmember’s responses are not audible in the recording......

Captain Monica Rochester with the US Coast Guard said earlier today that “the vessel has been in full compliance.

"We are working deliberately with the vessel owner/operator who is with us at the time," she said." Live updates: Boat fire near Santa Cruz Island, California - CNN

 

[Kubirai]

Where is the info they they were locked in? Can you please share, OBE, because I haven't seen that info and it's very disturbing. Thanks.
jmo

The mayday caller, probably the captain, said the people can't get off. The dispatcher assumed they were locked in.

 

[squareandrabbet]

It seems that the boat was in compliance with what was required of them to do. This investigation into this tragedy will certainly raise the questions about what safety measures should be required and what regulations will need to change.

From CNN:

"The crewmember’s responses are not audible in the recording......

Captain Monica Rochester with the US Coast Guard said earlier today that “the vessel has been in full compliance.

"We are working deliberately with the vessel owner/operator who is with us at the time," she said." Live updates: Boat fire near Santa Cruz Island, California - CNN

That's true, she did say that. Thank you for bringing it forward, as I had lost track of the quote.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Authorities say four more victims of a catastrophic dive boat fire have been located on the ocean floor off Southern California, bringing the known death toll to eight.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown says the additional victims were found Monday close to the sunken vessel but the boat remains unstable and it's uncertain when those remains will be recovered.

Four unidentified bodies recovered earlier Monday are those of two men and two women.

Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester says the search for more than two dozen other missing persons will go on into Tuesday morning but that but people should be prepared for "the worst outcome."
The Latest: Sheriff: 4 more bodies found near boat fire

 

[Kubirai]

It's coming up after the break. Her lead in said the drivers below may have been locked in while the Captain, and crew survived.

Imo

I listened to the Mayday call and read the transcript. The dispatcher assumed they were locked in, and started the questions about unlocking them, etc.

The caller was in distress but actually clarified they couldn't get off (through the fire) and there was no (other) escape hatch.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board have not identified where the blaze began. Aside from gas kitchen appliances, other potential sources of ignition include the oxygen tanks used to fill divers' personal supplies or the diesel fuel used to power the boat.

Greg Ricketts, a former manager with the Federal Aviation Administration and experienced open-water diver, tells USA TODAY he suspects the cause of the disaster was a "galley fire, making it impossible for the crew to reach the guests and the guests unable to evacuate."
California dive-boat fire highlights need for more than one exit from sleeping quarters

 

[BeachSky]

Dive boat info

Cooking aboard the boat is electric.
The Coast Guard does not allow gas stoves.
The fuel is diesel which does not ignite easily.
The divers tanks are filled with air or Nitrox, no Oxygen .
No oxygen is stored for that purpose.
There is a small amount of Oxygen stored for first Aid only.
The charging station is behind the galley near the stairs.

 

[Inthedetails]

I listened to the Mayday call and read the transcript. The dispatcher assumed they were locked in, and started the questions about unlocking them, etc.

The caller was in distress but actually clarified they couldn't get off (through the fire) and there was no (other) escape hatch.

Thanks. That is my understanding of the situation too. They were not literally "locked in" with door with a lock on it. There was a way up from the bunks to the deck, but it was engulfed in fire with no escape hatch they could use instead. They were trapped, but not locked. That's my understanding.

jmo

 

[imstilla.grandma]

They are a very good crew, they know what they are doing, they have been doing it a long time,” Barber said. “There is a big briefing at the beginning of every charter that goes out before, talking about safety; what you do if this happens; where all the safety equipment is on the boat. It was very, very shocking. This boat is known for their safety, the fact that it was this boat, I’m just speechless.”
Deadly Charter Boat Fire Shocks San Diego Scuba Community