Sheriff: Dive Boat Victims Killed by Smoke, Not Flames

Dozens of people trapped on a scuba diving boat that caught fire off the Southern California coast appear to have died from smoke inhalation, not burns, authorities said Friday.

“The indicators are from the preliminary examination of the bodies that the victims died prior to being burned,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.
“The burn damage to the victims was post-mortem.”

More than half the 34 people killed as they slept in bunks below deck early Monday have been positively identified through DNA, and their family members around the world are being notified, Brown told reporters.
Divers are searching for the one body that still has not been found.

This photo from video provided by KEYT-TV shows the owners of Truth Aquatics and the dive boat Conception, Glen and Dana Fritzler, right, and their daughter Ashley, left, during an interview with News Channel Three’s Beth Farnsworth Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, in Santa Barbara, Calif. They say they are beyond devastated by the tragedy that took 34 lives on the Conception. The small, family-owned company has been in business for 45 years, is known throughout the world and is well-known in Santa Barbara. (KEYT-TV via AP)

Five crew members jumped overboard after trying to rescue the 33 scuba divers and one crew member whose escape routes were blocked by fire, federal authorities and the boat’s owner said.
The crew, including the captain, said they were driven back by flames, smoke, and heat.

Multiple investigations into the disaster are focused on determining what happened and have not become a criminal probe, though Brown said charges are possible.

Notifying families that their loved ones were aboard the Conception and gathering DNA to identify remains burned beyond recognition has taken an extraordinary worldwide effort.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, at podium, announces that 18 people killed in the California dive boat fire have been positively identified, at a news conference at Sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Barbara, Calif., Friday, Sept. 6, 2019 Other identifications require DNA analysis because of the intensity of the fire early Monday, Sept. 2 aboard the vessel Conception. (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)

A mother in Japan was told Thursday that her child was on the boat.
The FBI also had to deliver the news to a family in Singapore and relatives from India who flew into California, Brown said.

The remains of 18 people have been positively identified, and the sheriff released the names of nine whose families have been notified.

A salvage crew working with the Coast Guard was trying to recover the ship that sank in 60 feet (18 meters) of water off the rugged Channel Islands, where the boat took a three-day excursion.

This November 2018 photo provided by Margo Peyton shows, from left, Diana Ademic, Berenice Felipa, Steve Salika and Tia Salika enjoying a dive during their 2018 Thanksgiving vacation trip at a Kids Sea Camp week at Buddy Dive Resort off Bonaire, a Netherlands-administered island in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela. All four were aboard the dive boat Conception and all died in the fire that swept the vessel on Sept. 2, 2019, off the coast of Southern California. (Margo Peyton via AP)

Speculation has grown about whether the captain and four other crew members who survived had tried to help the others before jumping from the flaming vessel.
But they said that by the time they saw flames, it was too late.

The crew members told investigators a “harrowing story” about the moments after the blaze erupted before dawn Monday as it lay at anchor, Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

They jumped from the bridge area to the main deck one breaking a leg in the effort and tried to get through the double doors of the galley, but they were on fire.

FILE – In this Sept. 2, 2019, file photo, provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, a dive boat is engulfed in flames after a deadly fire broke out aboard the commercial scuba diving vessel off the Southern California Coast. The owners of the dive boat where 34 people perished in a fire off the coast of Southern California filed a legal action in federal court Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, to head off potentially costly lawsuits. Truth Aquatics Inc., which owned the Conception, filed the action in Los Angeles under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP, File)

That cut off both escape routes from the sleeping quarters: a stairway and an escape hatch that exited in the galley area.
The crew then tried but failed, to get into windows at the front of the vessel.

“At that point, due to heat, flames, and smoke, the crew had to jump from the boat,” Homendy said.

Captain Jerry Boylan stayed aboard trying to send radio distress calls and was last in the water, said Glen Fritzler, co-owner of Truth Aquatics Inc. of Santa Barbara, which operated Conception.

FILE – In this Sept. 2, 2019, file photo, provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, firefighters work to extinguish a dive boat engulfed in flames after a deadly fire broke out aboard the commercial scuba diving vessel off the Southern California Coast. The owners of the dive boat where 34 people perished in a fire off the coast of Southern California filed a legal action in federal court Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019, to head off potentially costly lawsuits. Truth Aquatics Inc., which owned the Conception, filed the action in Los Angeles under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP, File)

“The other crew at a certain point when the flames had engulfed the boat and they were in the water, they could see Jerry jump from the upper deck, a long jump.
And there was a trail of smoke following him.
They thought he was on fire,” Fritzler told KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara.

“Within minutes, they would’ve been consumed,” he said.
“So they did their best.
They did re-enter the vessel from the back of the boat after they swam around it.
They could not get to firefighting equipment because everything was engulfed.”

The survivors used a skiff at Conception’s stern to reach a nearby boat, and two of them then returned to see if they could rescue any other survivors, Homendy said.
They found no one.

A row of hearts, each with the name of a victim, adorn a growing memorial to those who died aboard the dive boat Conception, seen early Friday morning, Sept. 6, 2019, at the harbor in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Sept. 2 fire took the lives of 34 people on the ship off Santa Cruz Island off the Southern California coast near Santa Barbara (AP Photo/Stefanie Dazio)

Fritzler said the experience has traumatized the survivors.

“They’re breaking down,” he said.
“They’re seeking counseling.
It’s a very tough time for them.”

Meanwhile, Truth Aquatics filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court that uses a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law to limit their liability from any victims’ claims.
The lawsuit argues that the company and its owners made the boat seaworthy and it was properly manned and equipped.

This photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the derrick barge Salta Verde engaged in salvage operations over the wreck of the dive boat Conception at Santa Cruz Island off the coast of Southern California Friday, Sept. 6, 2019. The Conception burned and sank Sept. 2, taking the lives of 34 people. (U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

Coast Guard records show the boat passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations.
And previous customers said Truth Aquatics and the captains of its three boats were very safety conscious.

The NTSB is just a few days into what will be a lengthy investigation that seeks to determine the fire’s cause and identify potential safety enhancements to avoid future disasters.

Investigators are examining potential ignition sources for the fire, including electronics, kitchen stoves, and the vessel’s wiring systems.
Investigators know photography equipment, batteries, and other electronics were stored and plugged in on the Conception.

“We are not ruling anything out at this point,” Homendy said.

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Associated Press writers John Antczak and Brian Melley in Los Angeles, Julie Watson in San Diego and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed to this story.