Following the fatal accident of the Conception, the commercial diving vessel with 39 people aboard, the NTSB conducted a questioning for the five crewmembers who survived to find the initial causes of the fatality. The initial dive search found the remains of 33 out of 34 missing from the boat and now the officials are using DNA analysis to determine the identities of the victims.
For the time being, the NTSB questions the ones who survived. Although the exact factors that caused the fire still remain unknown, the LA times reported that a charging station for personal electronics in the berthing area may have been the source of ignition; Yet, this is an assumption until the investigation reach to an end. Therefore, the NTSB stated that they will examine this scenario.
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Jennifer Homendy held a press conference, updating the reporters on the matter, and noted that ‘We are not ruling out any possible ignition sources‘.
Homendy added
[There] may have been a lot of cameras and cell phones that were charging on this vessel.
Ken Kurtis, dive trip organiser, the owner of California charterer Reef Seekers Dive Company, stated to Fox News that there is a possibility that the charging station was an ignition source.
Concluding, only five people are known to have survived, including the boat’s captain and four crew members, who were on deck and escaped on an inflatable boat.
