This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/us/santa-cruz-island-boat-fire.html

The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Boat ‘Engulfed in Flames’ Leaves Over 30 Missing Off Santa Cruz Island Boat ‘Engulfed in Flames’ Leaves Over 30 Missing Off Santa Cruz Island
(about 2 hours later)
OXNARD, Calif. — The United States Coast Guard is searching for more than 30 people after a scuba diving boat caught fire off the coast of Southern California early Monday morning. OXNARD, Calif. — The frantic knocking came well before dawn and jolted awake Bob and Shirley Hansen on their 60-foot fishing boat, The Grape Escape, moored for the night off the coast of Southern California.
Five crew members, who were on board when the fire began, were able to evacuate, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, Capt. Monica Rochester, said at a news conference. The passengers were believed to have been asleep below deck on the boat, which multiple officials identified as a 75-foot scuba diving vessel named Conception. “The crew was actually already awake and on the bridge and they jumped off,” she said. Five breathless men soaking wet and shivering in their underwear told the Hansens of a catastrophic fire that had ravaged their 75-foot commercial scuba diving vessel, the Conception, only several hundred feet away.
The crew eventually made their way to a nearby 60-foot fisherman boat, The Grape Escape, owned by Bob and Shirley Hansen, who were asleep when they began to hear pounding on the side of the vessel around 3:30 a.m, Mr. Hansen said in an interview. He soon threw on a pair of shorts and opened a cabin door to find five frightened men in their underwear. The men, all crew members, had escaped one of California’s worst maritime disasters in decades, a fire that authorities said Monday appeared to have claimed dozens of lives.
The men, said Mr. Hansen, told him they were crew on the nearby diving vessel, Conception, which they had jumped from after a fire onboard grew out of control. They used an inflatable tender boat to reach Mr. and Mrs. Hansen, the only other boat anchored in the area, in Platts Harbor, north of Santa Cruz Island, he said. The direness of the situation became clear to Mr. Hansen when he stepped outside his cabin and saw the glow of the raging fire in the dark. In an interview, he said that he had seen the Conception completely engulfed in flames, “from stem to stern.”
The enormity of the situation became clear a moment later when Mr. Hansen saw the glow of massive flames in the dark. “I could see the fire coming through holes on the side of the boat,” he said. “There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.”
“When we looked out, the other boat was totally engulfed in flames, from stem to stern,” he said, adding his boat was about 300 feet away from the Conception. “I could see the fire coming through holes on the side of the boat. There were these explosions every few beats. You can’t prepare yourself for that. It was horrendous.” In a haunting distress call apparently made from the Conception and recorded by a Ventura County Marine radio channel, a man yells, “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” Through the distortion and crackle of the radio call, the man’s desperation is apparent. “I can’t breathe!” he screams.
“The fire was too big, there was absolutely nothing we could do. You never anticipate something like this. We just felt so helpless,” he added. Rescue crews scoured the waters south of Santa Barbara and west of Los Angeles throughout the day Monday, hoping that they might find survivors from the Conception, which had been on a three-day holiday excursion to the Channel Islands, part of a national park of rugged, pristine coves in the Pacific.
Mr. and Mrs. Hansen gave clothes to the crew members, and helped dry them off. One he believed had broken his leg, evidently during the escape, and was in pain, he said. Two of the crew went back out toward the Conception to look for passengers who may have made it off the boat; they found no one, he said. [Sign up for our daily newsletter about news from California here.]
Search and rescue operations are still being conducted, and crews are searching the shoreline for survivors, Captain Rochester said. The boat sank earlier in the morning in the harbor, about 20 yards from shore, as fire department crews fought the blaze. Passengers on the Conception slept in a single room tightly packed with bunk beds below deck, according to a floor plan of the boat on the website of Truth Aquatics, the company that operated the vessel and is based in Santa Barbara. Narrow staircases from the sleeping quarters and showers led to the galley.
“Our hearts are with the families and loved ones affected by this tragic incident,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Twitter. “We are eternally grateful for our heroic first responders that are on site — working to ensure every individual is found.” It was too early on Monday to say whether negligence had played any role in the fire. “The vessel has been in full compliance,” a Coast Guard spokeswoman, Capt. Monica Rochester, said at a news conference. The boat was equipped with a fire suppression system in the engine room. The vessel also had an onboard, built-in barbecue, according to the website.
Senator Kamala Harris said on Twitter she was “heartbroken over the news out of Santa Cruz Island.” Capt. Rochester said the crew members were the only known survivors from the Conception and that 34 people were still missing. Many passengers, she said, were presumed to have been sleeping when the fire broke out.
A 75-foot boat named Conception had been scheduled for a three-day diving trip in the area beginning on Saturday, according to the website of Truth Aquatics, a Santa Barbara trip operator, which counts the Conception among its fleet. After picking up the mayday call at about 3:15 a.m., the Coast Guard dispatched two helicopter crews and several boats to the scene, where they were met by partner law enforcement agencies.
There was still no information on Monday about the nature of the fire. Captain Rochester said the boat was fully in compliance and had no prior violations. At the time of the fire, the Conception was moored in Platts Harbor, north of Santa Cruz Island. At sunrise it was smoldering but still afloat, according to a photograph posted by the Santa Barbara Fire Department. It sank later that morning, around 20 yards from shore.
Jonathan Blackman said in an interview on Monday that he had been on diving trips on Truth Aquatics boats, including one last year, and had always found the staff on board to be professional. The Hansens’ account testified to the panic in the initial moments after the fire struck.
“They’re usually men and women who are dedicated to the sport themselves,” said Mr. Blackman, 53, who lives in San Francisco and has been diving for decades. “They want to make sure everyone has a good time. Their focus is on safety.” The crew members who escaped the fire had reached the couple’s boat on an inflatable tender boat.
On such trips, he said, passengers typically sleep below deck, where points of entry and exit can be limited. Last week, Mr. Blackman booked a four-day trip with Truth Aquatics, a tour scheduled for October aboard the Conception. Mr. and Mrs. Hansen gave clothes to the crew members and helped dry them off. One appeared to have broken his leg, evidently during the escape, and was in tremendous pain. Two other members of the crew went back out toward the Conception to look for passengers who may have made it off the boat; they found no one.
At the news conference, Captain Rochester said that 34 people were still missing, though estimates from officials had been in flux throughout the morning on Monday. (Less than an hour before the news conference, the Coast Guard itself had said in a statement that only 33 were missing.) “The fire was too big, there was absolutely nothing we could do,” Mr. Hansen said. “You never anticipate something like this. We just felt so helpless.”
The Coast Guard picked up a mayday call related to the fire at about 3:15 a.m. and dispatched two helicopter crews and several boats to the scene, where they were met by partner law enforcement agencies.
Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, Calif., where the local Coast Guard is headquartered, was covered in fog on Monday morning, which locals said was an everyday occurrence and frequently cleared up by the afternoon. Despite the tragedy offshore, business continued largely as usual along the harbor; out on the water were recreational boats, kayakers and paddle boarders. Recreational divers in California said Truth Aquatics had a good reputation and appeared careful about safety.
Bill Zhang, the owner of Ocean One scuba, which has offered scuba trips on the Conception for the last three years, estimated that there were roughly 15 to 20 diving boats in Southern California, and said the three owned by Truth Aquatics were the largest in the Los Angeles area.
“They are the biggest company in California — they should pass everything very easily,” Mr. Zhang, 35, said. He noted that there would have been two captains on board the Conception because it had been an overnight trip.
Commercial boats of the Conception’s size must pass Coast Guard inspection annually to renew their license.
Gary Pilecki, a Bay Area-based member of a club that has chartered annual lobster-fishing trips on Truth Aquatics boats since 1982, said that the company’s vessels were always clean and well maintained.
“They’re always doing something to it,” Mr. Pilecki, 65, said. “Every time I go by Santa Barbara, I stop and say hello to them and they’re working on the boat. They’re replacing pipes and repairing things.
“It’s beyond me,” Mr. Pilecki said of the fire. “I’m surprised to hear about this.”
Along Santa Barbara Harbor on Monday, where Truth Aquatics is based, residents and visitors alike were speculating about the cause of the fire. Michael Gaffney, 62, who lives across the street from the harbor, said he sees tourists from all over the country and even the world line up for the scuba trips. “It’s horrible. If you’re trapped down below, there’s nowhere to go,” he said.
Promotional materials for the tours hung throughout the dock, featuring photographs of the company’s three boats: “Vision,” “Truth,” and “Conception” in the middle. On Monday afternoon, “Truth” sat alone in the harbor.
Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, Calif., where the local Coast Guard is headquartered, was covered in fog on Monday morning. Despite the tragedy offshore, business continued largely as usual along the harbor; out on the water were recreational boats, kayakers and paddle boarders.
Santa Cruz Island, in Santa Barbara County, is one of five islands in Channel Islands National Park, according to the website for the National Park Service, which owns and manages about a quarter of the island. The other three-quarters is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy. California’s largest island, at about 96 square miles, Santa Cruz Island is about 20 miles from Ventura, the website said.Santa Cruz Island, in Santa Barbara County, is one of five islands in Channel Islands National Park, according to the website for the National Park Service, which owns and manages about a quarter of the island. The other three-quarters is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy. California’s largest island, at about 96 square miles, Santa Cruz Island is about 20 miles from Ventura, the website said.
Jose A. Del Real reported from Oxnard, Calif., and Niraj Chokshi from New York. “Our hearts are with the families and loved ones affected by this tragic incident,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Twitter. “We are eternally grateful for our heroic emergency medical workers that are on site — working to ensure every individual is found.”
The authorities have not released names or nationalities of the missing.
Jose A. Del Real reported from Oxnard, Calif., Thomas Fuller from San Francisco, Louis Keene from Los Angeles and Niraj Chokshi from New York.