Edhat Staff
Photo: Truth Aquatics
By edhat staff
Truth Aquatics, the company that owned the Conception dive boat that caught fire killing 34 people last month, announced Tuesday they are officially suspending all operations.
The announcement was made on its website and states:
“With the continued calls and request for tours, we want to announce that we are officially suspending all operations of our Truth Aquatic fleet for a to-be-determined amount of time. We apologize to our customers who have been seeking reservations as well as those with reservations – and truly appreciate the expressions of support. Right now we feel it’s important dedicate our entire efforts to make our boats models of new regulations that we will continue to work on with the NTSB and Coast Guard.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and U.S. Coast Guard are continuing its investigation into what caused the Labor Day fire. The preliminary NTSB report did not point to a cause but stated all five surviving crew members were asleep at the time of the fire and the Conception did not have a roving night watchman as required by the Coast Guard.
The 33 passengers and 1 crew member were sleeping below deck and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Coroner states their injuries are consistent with smoke inhalation. The NTSB stated a full report detailing the cause of the fire will not be available for another 12 to 18 months.
Truth Aquatics owns two other vessels, Truth and Vision, which have been docked since the fire. The U.S. Coast Guard has not placed restrictions on the company’s operations.
unfortunately for SB, this looks to be the beginning of the end of TA. Lack ofa roving night watchman will be the unavoidable point of liability
Very sad for the victims and the owners. Surely the crew knew about the need for one to stay awake. That part was out of the owners control since they weren’t aboard.
This is another loss to the diving community as well. I dove off the Truth as a kid when it was brand new out of 22nd St in San Pedro back in ’77
The captain is ultimately responsible for what happened but the owners are still liable.
It’s out there in Google Land if you care to dig— the Coast Guard has failed to warn the passenger vessel industry about the dangers of lithium ion batteries in consumer electronics (unlike the FAA ).
Truth Aquatics and the poor souls of the Conception incident are all sad victims of this major neglect on the part of a government transportation agency. Lithium ion battery explosions and thermal runaway… such major catastrophic events could happen in your own home and you wouldn’t be prepared because you didn’t even know the potential existed and you certainly did not have the more advanced fire suppression equipment for it. Time for the Coast Guard to wake up!
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t recall ANYBODY stating that an lithium battery was involved. Plant your soap box on another corner…
Asitis, the hazards of high capacity batteries in general and of sodium and lithium batteries in particular have been well known to people in the industry for a hundred years. The specific hazards of compact lithium ion batteries have been quite well publicized by industry associations and government agencies around the world. And it doesn’t hurt to repeat those cautions regularly.
But in the article it states pretty clearly that the cause of the fire won’t be known for 12-18 months. Do you know something that the qualified professional investigators don’t? Or are you just upset and venting?
MRTUMP – why? Because they’re old? Destroy all 40+ year old boats? Please keep your insanity to yourself.
lots of folks getting their exercise by jumping to conclusions here. wait for the NTSB results.
The captain should be charged with dereliction of duty or criminal negligence. The safety of those passengers was his responsibility and he failed miserably.