I remember hearing that, the people were "locked" in? WTH?! Do they lock down the doors at night? Shudder! Great, a raging fire, explosion, you wake up, run to the door, and you are LOCKED IN!!!
There are a number of links to the exchange between the captain and marine rescue services. He did not say locked in. In truth, the only person in the released transcript who said locked in was the dispatcher. Some have theorized that maybe the repeat was off and the captain said blocked in.
This is a copy of post 128 (my post) from the LA Times:
The LA Times posted this transcript of the call (
'I can’t breathe.... there's no escape hatch': Dramatic mayday call from California boat on fire):
Man, around 3:15 a.m.: “Mayday, mayday, mayday! ... Conception ... north side of Santa Cruz.” (He’s broken up by static.)
Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach dispatcher asks position and number of people on board.
Man: “I can’t breathe.” ... (garbled)
Dispatcher: “You have 29 persons on board and you can’t breathe? What is your current GPS position?”
(Another man calls in who heard the distress call and is over by Anacapa Island.)
There’s some garbled space and back-and-forth for a few minutes as dispatchers try to reach anyone from the boat.
A frantic man can be heard:
“Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception!” ...
Dispatch:“Your vessel is on fire? Is that correct? ... Are you on board the Conception?”
Man: “Roger, there’s 33 people that’s on board the vessel that’s on fire. They can’t get off.”
Dispatch: “Roger, are they locked inside the boat? Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the door so they can get off? Roger, you don’t have any firefighting gear, no fire extinguishers or anything?”
Dispatch: “Roger, is this the captain of the Conception?”
Man: “Roger”
Dispatch: “Was that all the crew that jumped off?”
Man: “Roger”
Dispatch: “Is the vessel fully engulfed now?”
Man: “Roger, and there’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board.”