Escape routes blocked by fire doomed passengers of the Conception. Do they point to larger danger?
When the fire broke out around 3 a.m.,on deck jumped overboard and escaped, paddling a dinghy to a nearby boat. Everyone else — including another member of the crew — was in sleeping quarters below deck and unable to get out, with the only two exits apparently blocked by fire.
The U.S. Coast Guard has said the Conception, operated by Truth Aquatics, had passed all recent inspections. But Marjorie Murtagh Cooke, former director of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Office of Marine Safety, said the inferno could expose a broader safety problem that needs correcting.
Dr. Aaron Roland, who has dived on the Truth Aquatics fleet numerous times, said the Conception was a wonderful vessel but escaping up the narrow staircase from below decks in a fire would be a nightmare. “Yes, we do kind of bombard passengers throughout the trip. It was one of the focal points of my morning briefings,” he said. The crew repeated to guests how they should get out quickly during the night, he added. He delivered his trip safety briefings at the escape hatch, a slat of wood that was lighter than a door. “If you bat it from underneath — it would come off. It’s not like you are lifting a hatch.
“This was a terrible tragedy,” she told reporters Tuesday afternoon. “I cannot imagine what the families are going through.”A dive boat fire near Santa Cruz island off the Ventura County coast. The below-deck sleeping area had 20 single bunks and 13 doubles, some stacked three-high, to accommodate up to 46 people.
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