Following the fatal fire incident onboard diving boat Conception that resulted to 34 losing their lives, local media inform that federal agents, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the FBI and the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued a search warrant at the offices of Truth Aquatics, the Santa Barbara-based operator of the dive boat.
For the time there have been no criminal charges filed, whereas the Santa Barbara County sheriff’s Lt. Erik Raney stated that the search warrant is a typical process of an investigation.
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The owner of the Truth Aquatics, Glen Fitzler, commented that the company has filed a pre-emptive civil lawsuit claiming that its liability for the fire is limited to the value of the vessel itself.
It’s just a normal cause of action and maritime law and this is the action advised to us, that we need to take…We are a small-family run business. For 45 years we have never had an incident. We are grieving and reeling and just doing what we are advised by experts both on investigative and legal fronts.
Overall, the diving boat Conception burned and sank on September 2, resulting to the loss of 33 passengers and one crewmember. The fast-moving flames are believed to have trapped the passengers who were sleeping at that time in the vessel’s lower decks.
USCG suspended the search operations due to bad weather conditions, but the efforts will commence when the weather improves, as there’s still one remaining victim.
