Friday, October 27, 2023

CONCEPTION BOATING DISASTER TRIAL STARTS

By Bob Walsh


 

Slightly more than 4 years ago the worst maritime disaster in recent U S history occurred when 34 people died on the 75-foot dive boat CONCEPTION off of Santa Barbara.  The ships captain, Jerry Boylan, is being tried for "seaman's manslaughter" and could get 10 years in the slammer if convicted.  

Boylan's lawyer has tried to put most of the fault off on the boat's owner, Glen and Dana Fritzler.  He asserts that it was Glen Fritzler and not Boylan who was responsible for the lack of training and failure to post a night watch on the boat.  Fritzler was not on board the night of the fire.  The company owns and operates two other dive boats.

The NTSB has determined that Boylan was in fact at fault in the fire for failure to post a night watch.  All 33 passengers and one crew member were trapped below.  Many of the bodies recovered were wearing shoes, which led the investigators to believe they were awake and attempting to escape.  The NTSB also faulted the Coast Guard for failure to enforce the night watch requirement on a regular basis.  The families of many of the victims are suing the coast guard over this issue.  No citations have been issued by the coast guard for this infraction since 1991.  

The boats owners, Truth Aquatics, Inc., filed a lawsuit in federal court three days after the fire.  If successful this suit limits the company liability to the current value of the vessel, which is essentially zero.  The law on which the suit is based predates the civil war.    

The tragedy did result in new safety requirements on such boats including new fire detection systems, extinguishers and escape routes.  Both exits to the boat were closed off by the fire below decks which MAY have been caused by a gang cell phone charger system.

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