NTSB: Entire crew was asleep when fatal boat fire started

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

NTSB: Entire crew was asleep when fatal boat fire started

By STEFANIE DAZIO and BRIAN MELLEY
September 12, 2019

LOS ANGELES (AP) — All six crewmembers were asleep aboard a scuba diving boat off the Southern California coast when a fire broke out in the middle of the night, killing 34 people who were trapped in a bunkroom below the main deck, federal investigators announced Thursday.

The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report that said five crew members were sleeping in their quarters behind the wheelhouse on the second deck and another below deck when the fire broke out. All but one survived the inferno.

The cause of the blaze has yet to be determined.

Boats like the Conception, which caught fire around 3 a.m. on Sept. 2 and sank, are required to have a crewmember keep watch at night. Federal authorities are conducting a criminal investigation into the deadly fire off the coast of Santa Barbara and could bring charges under a statute known as seaman’s manslaughter.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/f83f169aa80e4deba3d57329943cf3e1

[malaise]

1. The majority of them woke up fast enough to save their own lives

Fuckers!

Kiss that business goodbye - just wait for the lawsuits

[magicarpet]

2. There should have been five or six smoke/fire detectors...

... on that boat especially down below and the sleeping quarters.

[Lochloosa]

3. I have been around boats my entire life, usually fishing.

Plenty of overnight trips in the Gulf.

Someone was always awake. Always.

That's just basic seamanship

[onethatcares]

4. no one standing watch.

almost unbelievable. On a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico I had a friend stand first watch, I woke to see a tanker bearing down on my boat. Four people almost died that night. All I lost was an anchor due to cutting the line to get out of the way. There was no time to pull it and tankers headed for port do not stop, slow down or even feel that bump as they run over you.

On a charter, there should have been two crewman on watch, not as regulation, but as precaution.

Lochloosa, you posted on top of mine. You know how fast things go from good to fucked on the water.