A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed the criminal indictment against the captain of the dive boat Conception, who was charged with manslaughter in the deaths of 34 people when the vessel caught fire and sank off the California coast three years ago.
The Conception caught fire while most of those onboard were sleeping, killing 33 passengers and a crew member. Recently, U.S. District Judge George Wu said in a ruling that the indictment, handed down on December 2020 against captain Jerry Nehl Boylan by a federal grand jury, must be thrown out because prosecutors had failed to accuse him of gross negligence.
In fact, according to Reuters, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said prosecutors would seek authorization from the Department of Justice to appeal Wu’s ruling.
The indictment accused the captain of causing the deaths through “misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties.”
The U.S. District Court grand jury cited three federal safety violations:
- Failure to assign a night watch or roving patrol aboard the boat;
- Failure to conduct sufficient crew training;
- Failure to conduct adequate fire drills.
The victims had been sleeping below deck when the boat went up in flames while anchored near Santa Cruz Island, off the Santa Barbara coast, during a sport diving expedition.
The five surviving crew members,
had been above deck in berths behind the wheelhouse and escaped by leaping overboard as the burning boat sank into the Pacific.
They told investigators that flames coming from the passenger quarters were too intense to save anyone trapped below. Coroners investigators determined the victims died of smoke inhalation.
What is more, three years after the fire aboard the Conception dive boat, more progress is needed on the safety recommendations the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued as a result of the investigation.
Following the investigation, the NTSB issued 10 new safety recommendations:
- USCG: Revise Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T to require that newly constructed vessels with overnight accommodations have smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces.
- USCG: Revise Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T to require that all vessels with overnight accommodations currently in service, including those constructed prior to 1996, have smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces.
- USCG: Revise Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T and Subchapter K to require all vessels with overnight accommodations, including vessels constructed prior to 1996, have interconnected smoke detectors, such that when one detector alarms, the remaining detectors also alarm.
- USCG: Develop and implement an inspection procedure to verify that small passenger vessel owners, operators, and charterers are conducting roving patrols as required by Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T.
- USCG: Revise Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T to require all small passenger vessels with overnight accommodations, including those constructed prior to 1996, to provide a secondary means of escape into a different space than the primary exit so that a single fire should not affect both escape paths.
- USCG: Review the suitability of Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T regulations regarding means of escape to ensure there are no obstructions to egress on small passenger vessels constructed prior to 1996 and modify regulations accordingly.
- USCG: Review the suitability of Title 46 Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter T regulations regarding means of escape to ensure there are no obstructions to egress on small passenger vessels constructed prior to 1996 and modify regulations accordingly.
- Passenger Vessel Association, Sportfishing Association of California, National Association of Charterboat Operators: Until the US Coast Guard requires all passenger vessels with overnight accommodations, including vessels constructed prior to 1996, to have smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces, share the circumstances of the Conception accident with your members and encourage your members to voluntarily install interconnected smoke and fire detectors in all accommodation spaces such that when one detector alarms, the remaining detectors also alarm.
- Passenger Vessel Association, Sportfishing Association of California, National Association of Charterboat Operators: Until the US Coast Guard requires small passenger vessels with overnight accommodations to provide a secondary means of escape into a different space than the primary exit, share the circumstances of the Conception accident with your members and encourage your members to voluntarily do so.
- USCG: Require all operators of U.S.-flag passenger vessels to implement safety management systems, taking into account the characteristics, methods of operation, and nature of service of these vessels, and, with respect to ferries, the sizes of the ferry systems within which the vessels operate.