Name: California dive boat captain charged with manslaughter in fire that killed 34 aboard Conception
Brand: washingtonpost.com
SKU: washingtonpost-com-843
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

California dive boat captain charged with manslaughter in fire that killed 34 aboard Conception

preview

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareSANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A federal grand jury Tuesday charged the captain of the commercial dive boat Conception with 34 counts of manslaughter for the deaths in a predawn fire aboard the vessel, one of the worst maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.The captain, Jerry Boylan, was long admired here for his care and seamanship of a boat that many locals rode to their open-water scuba certification dives at the Channel Islands. But a grand jury in Los Angeles found Boylan responsible for safety lapses over Labor Day weekend last year and alleged that he could have prevented such a severe loss of life.In a statement, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said Boylan “by his misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties” was responsible for the deaths of one crew member and 33 recreational divers, all from the Bay Area, who had chartered the boat for the weekend.Advertisement“As a result of the alleged failures of Captain Boylan to follow well-established safety rules,”, “a pleasant holiday dive trip turned into a hellish nightmare as passengers and one crew member found themselves trapped in a fiery bunkroom with no means of escape.”Boylan, a 67-year-old Santa Barbara resident, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.The Conception, a 75-foot vessel comprising three decks, was anchored in a cove off Santa Cruz Island on Sept. 2, 2019, One of the surviving crew members noticed a glow coming from the salon area on the boat’s middle deck, one above where 33 passengers and one crew member slept.None of those in the lower deck, who ranged in age from 17 to more than 60 years old, survived the fire.The boat sank quickly and, by the time Coast Guard rescue teams arrived from the mainland about 20 miles away, much of it rested on the seabed 65 feet below. Boylan and four other crew members survived.Aby the National Transportation Safety Board could not determine a cause of the fire, although there were indications that it sparked up from a tangle of cellphones charging in the salon area.The board blamed the Conception staff for failing to post a required roving night watch, a delayed safety briefing for passengers and a lightly trained crew, one of whom had been aboard for just two months.The indictment singled out those elements in charging Boylan, who the U.S. attorney’s office said was expected to surrender to federal authorities in the coming days.“With this indictment and our commitment to vigorously prosecute the case, we seek a small measure of justice for the victims and their loved ones,” Hanna said in the statement.CommentsGift ArticleTOP STORIESThe DMV GuideWhether you’re a lifelong resident of D.C. or you just moved here, we’ve got you covered.Try a different topic or to save your preferences

This article was published more than&nbsp;2 years agoCommentGift ShareSANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A federal grand jury Tuesday charged the captain of the commercial dive boat Conception with 34 counts of manslaughter for the deaths in a predawn fire aboard the vessel, one of the worst maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.The captain, Jerry Boylan, was long admired here for his care and seamanship of a boat that many locals rode to their open-water scuba certification dives at the Channel Islands. But a grand jury in Los Angeles found Boylan responsible for safety lapses over Labor Day...

public

Scott Wilson

washingtonpost.com

Credible

Speculation

Anecdotal Evidence

Generalization

Stacking the Deck

Appeal to Authority

Straw Man

Slippery Slope

Emotional Appeal

Red Herring

False Dilemma

Illogical

Moral Equivalency

Ad Hominem

Correlation w/o Causation

Semantics

Begging the Question

Faulty Analogy

Non Sequitur

Bandwagon

Dogmatism

Failing Occam's Razor

Biased

Pure Opinion

Hit Piece

Racial Bias

National Bias

Religious Bias

Financial Incentive

Political Agenda

Gender Bias

Misused Image/Video

Study Misinterpreted

Mistake

Misused Term

Science Misrepresented

Factual Error

Satire

Surface Level

Lack of Reliable Sources

Sensational

Not Credible

Investigative

Balanced

Well Sourced

Great Context

sports

entertainment

U.S.

international

business

technology

science

culture

politics

media

health

California dive boat captain charged with manslaughter in fire that killed 34 aboard Conception

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS