The doomed California dive boat that killed 34 people when it burst into flames didn’t have a night watchman on duty to alert passengers of the disaster, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report released Thursday.
“At the time of the fire, [all] five crew members were asleep in berths behind the wheelhouse, and one crew member was asleep in the bunkroom,” the preliminary NTSB report states. “As crewmembers awoke, the captain radioed a distress message to the Coast Guard.”
The 75-foot-long vessel, the Conception, was carrying 39 people near Santa Barbara on Sept. 2 when a crew member awoke and spotted the fire, according to the report.
“A crew member sleeping in the wheelhouse berths was awakened by a noise and got up to investigate. He saw a fire at the aft end of the sun deck, rising up from the salon compartment below. The crew member alerted the crew behind the wheelhouse,” the report states.
“Unable to use the aft ladder, which was on fire, the crew members jumped down to the main deck (one crew member broke his leg in the process) and tried to access the salon and galley compartment, which was fully engulfed by fire…and by thick smoke.”
Frantic, the some of the crew plunged into the water.
“Unable to open the window and overwhelmed by smoke, the crew jumped overboard,” the report states.
Some them then climbed back on the boat but ultimately couldn’t save any passengers.
“The captain continued to radio for help…[but] the vessel burned to the waterline by morning and subsequently sank in about 60 feet of water.
