Fire of a boat in California: security investigators say that all the crew was asleep



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Legend of the mediaFamily and friends mourn those who perished in the fire of a California dive boat.

The crew of the boat destroyed by a fire off the California coast was all asleep at the beginning of the fire, US officials said.

Under federal law, the Design Diving Boat should have had a crew member acting as a "night watchman".

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a preliminary report on the September 2 fire.

The 34 passengers sleeping under the bridge died in the fire, but the five crew members managed to escape.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but the NTSB said that initial interviews with some crew members had revealed no mechanical or electrical problems on the boat .

The 23-foot (75-foot) Conception dive boat was anchored a few meters from Santa Cruz Island, about 145 km west of Los Angeles when it caught fire.

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FIRE DISTRIBUTION BY THE EPA / SANTA BARBARA ACCOUNT

Legend

The boat was totally in flames as the crews tried to rescue the passengers

A rescue team found the body of the latest victim on Monday, the police said. Authorities believe that all died of smoke inhalation.

"DNA tests are still under way to confirm the identity of 7 of the 34 victims found," the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said on Twitter.

What does the report say?

The boat, owned and operated by Truth Aquatics Inc, was conducting a three-day dive in the Channel Islands, but on the last night of the voyage, under conditions of minimal wind and fragmented fog, the boat caught fire.

Coast Guard services received a distress call from the vessel at 3:14 am local time (10:14 GMT).

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Getty / Ventura Country Fire Department

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Firefighters were unable to board the ship to extinguish the fire because the flames have already taken root

The NTSB stated that at the time of the fire, the five crew members were sleeping in different areas of the three-tiered wooden and fiberglass boat.

One of the crew members "was awakened by a noise and rose to investigate" when he "saw a fire at the back of the sun deck, raising the compartment from the living room below ".

The crew member alerted his colleagues and they jumped on the main deck trying to reach the passengers sleeping in the main lounge – with a member of the crew breaking his leg.

However, their path being blocked by fire and smoke, the crew jumped overboard and two limbs swam to the other end of the boat and boarded again.

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Legend of the mediaWatch the inhabitants of Santa Barbara react to the "terrible" boat fire

They "opened the access hatch to the engine room and saw no fire" and still unable to reach the passenger premises, they launched a small skiff and retrieved the crew remaining in the water and were transferred to a nearby anchored boat.

The captain requested radio assistance while two crew members returned to the ship to search for survivors around the burning hull. The ship burned to the waterline and sank.

Rescue operations aimed at bringing the wreckage to the surface for review and documentation began and the NTSB said efforts were still underway to determine the cause of the fire.

The US Coast Guard has issued new emergency safety recommendations following the deadly disaster.

Who was on board the Conception?

The names of five other victims were released Tuesday afternoon, bringing to 27 the number of identified victims.

The five victims were identified as Adrian Dahood-Fritz, 40, of Sacramento; Lisa Fiedler, 52, Mill Valley; Kristina "Kristy" Finstad, 41, from Tamrick Pines; Fernisa Sison, 57, Stockton; Kristian Takvam, 34, from San Francisco.

The names of the remaining victims are expected to be released later this week.

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Getty Images

Legend

People have left flowers on the dock where the design is based

Family members and friends of the victims pay tribute to their loved ones.

Fiedler, who has worked as a hairdresser-stylist, has been described as a "generous" lover of music, nature and traveling with a "magnificent spirit".

"Everyone loved her, she was a kind and kind person, she was a naturalist, she loved nature," said Fiedler's mother, Nancy, at ABC7 News.

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