Five years after a fire killed 34 people on the Conception dive boat fire, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy again called on the Coast Guard to require safety management systems for all U.S.-flagged passenger vessels.
“For five years, I’ve worked with the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy to spur federal action on our recommendations,” Homendy said Monday at the Conception Memorial in Santa Barbara, Calif., at a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the 2019 tragedy.
“The NTSB first recommended SMS in the marine mode 20 years ago, and specifically called for it on small passenger vessels since 2012. Additionally, Congress authorized the Coast Guard to mandate SMS in 2010,” said Homendy, according to her remarks released by the NTSB.
“It’s 2024, and here we are, with no action. We know our recommendations save lives. I call on the Coast Guard to finish its work implementing solutions to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again.”
Family members of the fire victims and first responders gathered at the memorial to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 2, 2019 fire on the Conception, which was anchored for the night off Santa Cruz Island with 33 passengers and a crew of six on board. In the early morning hours the 75’x25’ wood and fiberglass vessel caught fire, burned to the waterline and sank about 100’ from shore. All 33 passengers and one crewmember died in the fire.
.“This terrible fire ins 2019 was my first marine investigation as an NTSB board member, and my experience investigating the tragedy and my bond with the families affected and deepened my commitment to improving marine safety, as I have previously written,” Homendy wrote.
“I am committed to ensuring the pain these families have faced receives the weighty and urgent consideration it deserves, and that NTSB’s safety recommendations resulting from this incident are implemented with all possible haste so that no one else suffers a similarly tragedy.”
