An early morning fire on the dive boat Conception has taken the lives of dozens of scuba divers who were on a 3-day liveaboard dive trip to San Miguel and Santa Cruz Islands.

The 75-foot Conception departed from Santa Barbara Harbor at 4 a.m. Saturday morning and was scheduled to return at 5 p.m. Monday. It was anchored for the night in Platt’s Harbor, about 20 yards off the coast of Santa Cruz Island when the fire broke out around 3:30am. Monday.

One crew member was able to get out a brief Mayday call to the Coast Guard, reporting that 39 people were aboard. The distressed and garbled message was difficult to understand, but sufficient to initiate a rapid emergency response by the Coast Guard. Two helicopter crews were dispatched and several boats were sent to the scene, where they were met by several other law enforcement agencies.

Five crew members who were sleeping on the bridge escaped by jumping into the water and received help from a nearby 60-foot fishing boat, The Grape Escape, owned by Bob and Shirley Hansen. The Hansen’s were asleep when they heard pounding on the side of the vessel. Bob Hansen opened a cabin door to find the five men and provided aid. One crewman’s leg was injured and another had visible ankle injuries. Two of the crew members went back to the Conception in a dinghy to look for survivors but found no one.

The Conception just before it sank off the Santa Cruz Island coast. Image: Santa Barbara County Fire Department

Photo: Ventura County Fire Department

“At 3:15 this morning the Coast Guard overheard a mayday call. The call was garbled, it was not that clear, but we were able to get some information out of it to send vessels on scene,” Barney said.

 

The Coast Guard is still searching the nearby shoreline for others who may have been able to escape.

“Right now they’re conducting shoreline searches for any survivors,” Monica Rochester, Coast Guard Captain, told reporters at a brief news conference at Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard.

 

This is the route the Conception took after leaving Santa Barbara:

Source: MarineTraffic.com

According to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the boat burned down to the waterline and eventually sank in 64 feet of water. A portion of the bow is still sticking out of the water. As of 10pm Monday, 25 bodies have been recovered, with an additional 9 people still missing.

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a go-team to California to investigate the boat fire. Board Member Jennifer Homendy will lead the team that is investigating.

Authorities have set up a family assistance center at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara.

 

Chartered by Santa Cruz Group

For the Labor Day Weekend Trip, the Conception was allegedly chartered by Worldwide Diving Adventures, a Santa Cruz-based company that provides “exotic dive trips, scuba instruction, and local boat diving in Monterey and the Channel Islands.”

The adventure company was founded in 1972 by Bill Finstad in Santa Cruz. The site says his daughter Kristy and her husband, Chua, both licensed scuba instructors, lead excursions.

The trip was billed as a unique trip to explore the underwater pinnacles of San Miguel Island. The beginning of September is one of the best times to visit San Miguel, which see strong winds and swell during much of the year.

 

Well Respected

Truth Aquatics is a well-respected name in the diving world, running several boats to the Channel Islands. Owner Glen Fritzler won an award earlier this year for his pioneering work in the industry. Glen estimates that his three boats have hosted over 450,000 divers and 1.3 million California dives over the years.

As of its last inspection, the Conception has been in full compliance of all certifications and safety regulations. Truth Aquatics is reportedly assisting and cooperating fully with the recovery efforts and investigation into the tragedy.

The Conception can carry 46 people and sleep them in 13 double bunks and 20 single bunks and has life jackets for 110 passengers. At the beginning of each dive trip, a comprehensive safety briefing is conducted by the captain and all passengers aboard are required to be present. The captain shares the procedure for deploying life boats, basic emergency radio operation, the location of life jackets, and the location of two bunk room exits – a stairay towards the bow and an escape hatch near the stern of the boat. The briefing also discusses the alarms on board, underwater alarms, and location of fire extinguishers. The briefing is done within the galley at the site of the emergency escape hatch, a roughly two-feet by two-feet square plank of wood with no lock or latch on it that leads to the bunks below.

In addition to taking scuba divers on single day and overnight trips, the Conception also takes educational and research groups, family and friend getaways, and kayaking trips. Destinations include all of the offshore Islands of Southern California, with the primary destinations of Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel Islands. Other Islands visited are Catalina, Santa Barbara, San Clemente, San Nicolas, and Cortez Banks.

Authorities have set up a family assistance center at Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara. A family information line has been opened at (833) 688-5551.

This story will be updated as new information becomes available. California Diver has representatives on-scene to report the latest information. Feel free to contact us here if you have any questions or comments regarding this story.