34 presumed dead after fire on scuba diving boat – IOTW Report

34 presumed dead after fire on scuba diving boat

Tuesday, 3 September 2019, 17:30 MJA Uncategorized 14

Breitbart:

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — No one likely escaped the flames that tore through a boat packed with scuba divers, with all 34 people sleeping below deck presumed dead during a Labor Day weekend expedition off the Southern California coast, authorities said Tuesday as they called off the search for survivors.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said no one has been found alive after the fire engulfed the dive boat early Monday. Flames blocked an escape hatch and a stairwell leading to the sleeping area crowded with passengers on a recreational scuba diving trip.

Santa Barbara County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig told reporters that the victims’ relatives “will rely on us to do everything in our power to find out happened aboard that vessel in the last moments of these family members’ lives. That’s our commitment.”

Only five crew members sleeping on the top deck were able to escape by jumping off and taking a small boat to safety.

The fire that engulfed the Conception killed all 33 passengers and one crew member who was below deck, the sheriff said. Investigators have not yet determined how the fire erupted. read more

14 Comments on 34 presumed dead after fire on scuba diving boat

  4. I can’t think of a worse way of dying than be trapped in raging fire. In the lower deck of a boat with no escape and lots of metal dive tanks with pressurized oxygen exploding. Hopefully they went quickly.

    My condolences to the family and friends of the departed.

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  5. It sucks. A lot of friends have been on that boat, I doubt I know any of the victims but likely have friends who do.
    The crew sleeps on the deck because there isn’t space below. Hard to know what happened at this point but it makes sense that the crew escaped while nobody else did, particularly since the fire began around 3 am. Firefighters got there in less than 15 minutes and it was fully engulfed.

    Scuba tanks wouldn’t have been an issue, they are just compressed air and not particularly volatile. More likely something in the kitchen and the fuel tanks.

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  6. It would seem that there should have been other means of escape. If they weren’t required before, I am sure they will be now.

    My son works on a tug. When he saw Dunkirk, he had a real problem in the scene where people were trapped below deck when the ship sank.

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  7. They should make a memorial buoy for them. Not sure if these things can be done.

    @Left Coast Dan – thanks for the back round and I just had heard that the crew made it to safety in a dingy and the darn boat was only about 40 yards from shore when this happened. Also the escape hatch appears to have been blocked by the initial fire and the vessel, as you know, is made of WOOD. This makes me think now of what we have here in NY for fishing party and diving boats.

    I see a change in navigational law coming for small vessels or businesses such as this.

    The first rescue boat’s name? The Great Escape.

    May they RIP…after that agony. Hopefully the pressure of the water on the damaging hull made it quick.

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  8. I’m with Dan. Been on boats, not that one. My money says everyone below was probably asleep when they expired from breathing toxic fumes from smoldering plastic, rubber and laminate finishes.

    Compressor fire would do it.

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  11. The passengers were locked inside, but the crew escapes, does not use required on-board fire extinguishers, and not one not even tries to open the hatch? Sounds more like it was a mass execution made to look like an accident. Who were the victims? LCD,The boat description sounds like a death-trap waiting to happen, and over loaded as well. A foolish risk at a cheap rate maybe?

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