CA - Boat fire near Santa Cruz Island; 34 missing, Sept 2019 *captain charged*

[PrairieWind]

Good grief! First, the defendant's attorney was able to whittle the charges down to just one claim of Seaman's manslaughter" (there is so much wrong with that I don't even have time to go into it) then that charge is dismissed because it wasn't plead correctly. The US Attorney is asking permission to appeal. It is probably too late to dismiss and refile now. This sounds like poor prosecution.

 

[BeachSky]

Feds say captain saved himself as California boat fire killed 34. But prosecution hits a wall

Conception dive boat Captain Jerry Boylan's criminal prosecution has become a battle over negligence on the seas.

news.yahoo.com

Prosecutors in court filings say they were alive when Boylan jumped off the top deck and ran afoul of a sacred maritime tradition: that a captain should be the last to leave his ship. The responsibilities of a captain can be traced to a 12th-century document called the Rolls of Oleron, which established the first known tenets of maritime law.

Those sleeping below deck were trapped beneath the fire. There were signs that some of those who perished were awake with their shoes on before they were killed by smoke inhalation.

The repeated delays in Boylan's case have also led to a hold being put on civil lawsuits filed by the families against Truth Aquatics and the U.S. Coast Guard for poor oversight.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

Dive boat captain pleads not guilty in fiery deaths of 34

A boat captain pleaded not guilty in federal court to manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off the Southern California coast.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[ilovewings]

Dive boat captain pleads not guilty in fiery deaths of 34

A boat captain pleaded not guilty in federal court to manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off the Southern California coast.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Thanks for the update

 

[YaYa_521]

Dive boat captain pleads not guilty in fiery deaths of 34

A boat captain pleaded not guilty in federal court to manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people trapped below deck on his burning vessel three years ago off the Southern California coast.

www.dailymail.co.uk

SBBM
A federal grand jury issued a new indictment last month alleging that Captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard the Conception during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history. A judge threw out the original case on the third anniversary of the Sept. 2, 2019, tragedy. The trial is scheduled for Dec. 20 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Boylan faces 10 years in prison if convicted of a single count of misconduct or neglect of a ship officer - a pre-Civil War statute known as 'seaman´s manslaughter' that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
# More at link

 

[JerseyGirl]

https://apnews.com/article/fires-california-los-angeles-5eb085deee41285c8e27230a66a29999

Boylan made a brief appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, and his trial was scheduled for Dec. 20.

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 22, 2022

As Conception boat burned, video shows divers trapped below deck sought way out. 34 people died

Federal investigators recover a video recorded by a victim of the Conception boat fire tragedy as the 34 people trapped below deck tried to escape.

www.latimes.com

Following the horrific Conception boat fire in 2019, authorities offered a small solace: The 33 divers and one crew member had died of smoke inhalation and may have perished in their sleep without suffering.

That theory was called into question when some of the dead were found to have been wearing their shoes, leading investigators to speculate they had tried to escape before the ship was engulfed in flames.

Now, more than three years after one of the country’s deadliest maritime accidents, a sobering piece of evidence has put the question to rest, showing conclusively that the divers were awake and searching for a way off the boat in the minutes after crew members had jumped into the water.

[...]

 

[PommyMommy]

DEC 23, 2022

New 'Conception' Video Surfaces - The Santa Barbara Independent

New 'Conception' video shows 24 seconds in the bunkroom as smoke filters in from fire above.

www.independent.com

The evolving story of the Conception dive boat got another cupful of heartbreak Thursday morning when the Los Angeles Times broke the story that the FBI had a video recording from the bunkroom where 34 people died when a fire broke out on September 2, 2019.

Some family members of the victims who had viewed the video spoke with Times reporter Richard Winton about what they’d seen: Apparently 24 seconds long, the video showed smoke gathering along the ceiling and beginning to fill the room as a fire alarm sounds. The scene is calm initially but becomes increasingly desperate before cutting out.

The investigation reports state a fire had quickly spread in the galley salon overhead. The bunkroom was belowdecks, with the two ways out: a set of stairs and a narrow escape hatch, both ending at the galley engulfed in flames. The captain, Jerry Boylan, had sent a mayday call but had abandoned ship with the crew.

[...]

 

[BeachSky]

Thanks PommyMommy

More on the 27 second video…

Conception liveaboard fire victims were trying to escape when they died - report

Video footage recovered from the Conception liveaboard fire tragedy revealed divers were trying to escape with the boat in flames

divemagazine.com

The fire alarm is going off … you see smoke coming in from some of the fans and down the stairwell,’ one of the relatives, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Los Angeles Times. ‘People are walking around looking for a way to get out. Someone says, “Hey, there’s got to be another way out of here,” and their voices weren’t panicked at first.’ According to the LA Times report, the video continues, showing smoke creeping into the cabin before it starts to fill the room, as one of the divers pulls up his shirt to protect himself from the smoke. The video shows the man and another diver trying to find a way out near a stairwell that led to the galley on the floor above. The video then captured a loud noise, the cause of which is unclear, and someone saying,
‘Oh f—.’

ETA:
Capt Jerry Boylan’s trial was set for last Dec.
He was facing only 10 yrs.
Pleaded NG. He is out on bond.
I wonder if this new information that they
did not all die from smoke inhalation
will change the charge back. It should!
I can’t find a trial update for him.
Just horrific. MOO

 

[Keane]

DEC 22, 2022

As Conception boat burned, video shows divers trapped below deck sought way out. 34 people died

Federal investigators recover a video recorded by a victim of the Conception boat fire tragedy as the 34 people trapped below deck tried to escape.

www.latimes.com

Following the horrific Conception boat fire in 2019, authorities offered a small solace: The 33 divers and one crew member had died of smoke inhalation and may have perished in their sleep without suffering.

That theory was called into question when some of the dead were found to have been wearing their shoes, leading investigators to speculate they had tried to escape before the ship was engulfed in flames.

Now, more than three years after one of the country’s deadliest maritime accidents, a sobering piece of evidence has put the question to rest, showing conclusively that the divers were awake and searching for a way off the boat in the minutes after crew members had jumped into the water.

[...]

Oh *censored*.

I don't want to think about what my friends went through.