Boat fire at Channel Islands in California kills 34 people

[Dan Druff]

Contrary to popular belief, fire is often the biggest danger when at sea. This is because it can consume boats quickly, and it's much tougher to escape than on land.

A company called "Truth Aquatics" has been taking people on multiple-day diving tours for a long time. These boats hold over 33 passengers, and there is an indoor area where people sleep at night on bunk beds.

This boat, Conception, built in 1981, is often used for the trip:



At about 3:15am on Monday morning, a fire broke out on Conception. All 33 passengers were sleeping, as was one crew member. The other five crew were awake when the fire broke out. (It's not clear why 5 of the 6 crew members were up so late.)

The fire spread so rapidly that there was no way out for the people sleeping indoors. A panicked phone call, possibly by a passenger, was received on 911 shortly after the fire broke out:



The 5 awake crew jumped off the ship and managed to be rescued by another boat. 25 people are confirmed dead, and the other 9 are missing after 24 hours, and presumed dead. So all 33 passengers died, plus one crew, barring a miracle where one is found alive.

The boat kept bursting back into flames after being extinguished, presumably due to the fuel onboard.






The tragedy occurred near Santa Cruz Island, which is one of the uninhabited Channel Islands, located west of Santa Barbara. The dorms at UCSB are named after these islands. The islands are protected by the federal government as a National Park, but few people visit them each year, as they are difficult to access.

This is one of the worst boating tragedies in modern US history.

My girlfriend told me that she went on this boat in the 1990s, and that the sleeping quarters were packed extremely close together with people.

Reportedly there were no code violations by the company, and no one is expected to be charged with any crime. The cause of the fire is unknown. There has been some criticism levied upon the staff who jumped off the boat and apparently made no attempt to save the people trapped inside, similar to the Italian cruise ship where the captain jumped off and later faced criminal charges.

Prior to this incident, reviews for Truth Aquatics and this boat were mostly positive, with the few bad reviews mostly focusing upon alleged poor booking/record keeping practices which left some people without a spot after they paid.

[Dan Druff]

Here is the layout of the room with the bunk beds:



Notice these are triple bunk beds, and there's only one staircase to get out of the room. If the staircase was blocked by fire, everyone was screwed.

Also, reports are now stating that the five crew who escaped were not awake, but rather sleeping on the top deck, and were able to jump off the ship when they saw the fire.

There is now some discussion that secondary exits should be required in rooms like these, though there is no such requirement currently.

The crew member who died was probably sleeping in the only non-bunk bed, the one labeled "17".

[nightmarefish]

Here is the layout of the room with the bunk beds:



Notice these are triple bunk beds, and there's only one staircase to get out of the room. If the staircase was blocked by fire, everyone was screwed.

Also, reports are now stating that the five crew who escaped were not awake, but rather sleeping on the top deck, and were able to jump off the ship when they saw the fire.

There is now some discussion that secondary exits should be required in rooms like these, though there is no such requirement currently.

The crew member who died was probably sleeping in the only non-bunk bed, the one labeled "17".

The secondary exit is the reason that a window is mandatory for a room in your house to be called a bedroom. They basically were stuck in an oven, horrible way to go.

[SPIT this]

This was supposed to be the summer of George

[FRANKRIZZO]

redacted

[FRANKRIZZO]

There were actually 2 exits both were in flames surprisingly the ship passed safety inspections.

[dwai]

WE NEED BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR BOAT LICENSES IMMEDIATELY

[Tellafriend]

We need to ban these so-called "dive boats" immediately.

[FRANKRIZZO]

Yes, there was only one exit up from the entry only few people got out , shame . Not victim blaming but this happens when you go for cutrate cheap vacations etc. Its also glaringly sad that the ship was even allowed to operate without prior safety inspection.