conception dive boat tragedy

One of the deadliest accidents in recent U.S. maritime history was the fault of owners of a Southern California dive boat whose lack of oversight resulted in a fire that swept through the vessel and killed 34 people in their bunks below deck, federal safety officials ruled Tuesday.

Crew members of a Southern California dive boat have told investigators they weren’t trained on emergency procedures before a fire broke out last year and killed 34 people. Federal documents released Wednesday say the cause of the predawn blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined. One crew member told investigators he saw sparks flash when he plugged in his cellphone hours...

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Conception boat fire that killed 34 people near Santa Cruz Island, including two Santa Monica residents, the National Transportation Safety Board announced that it will hold an Oct. 20 meeting to discuss the agency’s investigation into the deadly fire.

A plaque with the names of those who died when a dive boat caught fire one year ago off the Southern California coast was unveiled Wednesday morning. The permanent memorial at the Conception dive boat’s home dock in Santa Barbara Harbor features the names of the 34 people killed when the 75-foot commercial diving vessel caught fire Sept. 2, 2019….