Five years after California’s worst modern maritime disaster, relatives of the Conception boat fire victims are angry about what they call the slow pace of accountability, while a top U.S. safety official says the Coast Guard continues to stall on reforms.
Thirty-four people died aboard the Conception on Labor Day in 2019, when a fire erupted on the main deck while dozens of divers slept in a windowless bunk room below. In the smoke and chaos, they desperately tried to find a route to safety on the 75-foot dive boat but could not escape.
Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, castigated the Coast Guard at a news conference Monday for failing to require safety management systems for small vessels.
“How many deaths have to occur? How many injuries have to occur? How many families have to stand up here at a press conference grieving for their loves ones before action is taken?” Homendy said as she stood near a plaque at Santa Barbara Harbor that commemorates the Conception victims. “And how many times does Congress, which did it again in 2021, (have to) tell the Coast Guard to take action?”
Homendy, joined by victims’ relatives, said her agency has made recommendations dating back more than two decades for safety management systems — most recently after the Conception fire.
She sent a letter Monday to the Homeland Security secretary and head of the Coast Guard asking to implement change “with all…
