Boat on Fire off California Toast, er, I mean Coast

Analinkus

They're not expected to be found alive and by all accounts died a horrible death.

Link:

Those poor people.

Just awful.

Was there grease involved?

It was a commercial diving boat with bunk beds below deck.

Has Captain Sandy weighed in?

R5, I blame the incompetent Russian chef.

I never understand people with so little empathy that they can joke about burning to death.

They couldn't get anyone but crew members to lifeboats? God, how horrible!

I've been on dive boats that size, even took an overnight trip to the Channel Islands. There was a big room full of bunk beds below deck where we all slept, if this boat had a similar setup then the passengers may all have been trapped below decks by the fire.

*sigh*

r8, in case you haven't noticed, life and death is accompanied by absurdity; we're a cosmic hoax, as someone so memorably put it.

For instance there is alive now a fat, gelatinous, ignorant, dangerous, bigot who now resides in the White House as the President of the United States while these people are dead.

If that isn't cause for grim humor, I don't know what is.

If children are victims here, no way would I, under any circumstances, find it funny that they died a terrible death, but still.

Della, calling 29 people who where trapped in the hull of a boat and burned to death an absurdity speaks poorly your own character. This isn't a darwin award death.

And, seriously, you seem to be making excuses for your own lack of empathy by pointing to Trump. We are supposed to be better than him.

Where = were ^

In case you haven't noticed, r11, not everyone on the left is better than Trump. We're just on the other side.

This is true, r13. But to use Trump as an excuse to joke about 29 dying is beyond the pale.

Well, someone on these Datalounges has morals. Must be new to DL.

Hardly.

R8, in case you haven't noticed, unless it's a gay porsntar's death, DL don't care.

r11, I'll consider what you wrote. Seriously.

Anyway, could a cause of a boat fire differ from a cause of a fire in a land dwelling? For instance, is equipment related to scuba gear particularly flammable?

I'll come clean. I ask because the first thing I think of as a cause is meth cooking or careless use of smoking. Iirc, the Cathedral of Notre Dame fire possibly was caused by a cigarette.

I’ve dove in that same boat at least 50 times. What a tragedy. There is an exit in the bunk room near the bow but it’s tiny and you need to climb a ladder. I’m in shock truly. Was just on the boat a month ago.

What could have caused this fire? Who is to blame?

Thirty four dead although they are not saying EXACTLY that at the moment.

More than likely the victims are not deplorables. When deplorables die, I don't grieve.

There is a kitchen on the boat. Lots of equipment like air compressors. I’m still in shock to be honest. I’ve worried about capsizing on the over night trips to the Channel Islands but fire never seemed like a possibility.

I have a feeling there was an explosion (propane tank?) first and then fire. The people down below probably never had a chance. The survivors were the 5 above deck. The boat was really close to shore so it would have been easy to get there...if they survived.

So it's likely a survivor started the fire, right?

If it was a diving trip, then there would have been dozens of oxygen tanks. Wouldn't all the compressed air be a huge factor?

I’m confused. Wasn’t this a commercial vessel? Meaning that they fish?

Shouldn't the crew have gone down with the ship?

Absurdity does not mean stupidity. r11 and others: please see definition 2.

R29, 1) context matters. 2) Reasonable people would think tragedy and not absurdity when hearing 34 people were trapped and burned alive. And the rest of her defense actually does fall under the definition of absurd: a) but trump is worse so this is funny and b) it wasn't children -- as if adults dying horribly is okay.

That's ok, r29. Thank You for posting that defintion of absurdity which perfectly captures my point made in response to r11's scolding.

r30, I've thought about your post as a I said I would and I stand by my post at r10.

Tragedy and absurdity aren't mutually exclusive.

That's okay, Della, I'm just glad that when I look at the WWs there are fewer people who look at this as a joke as you did.

I am very sorry for my ignorance, but I have never in my life had the means to afford myself access to such a vessel. Can someone please describe the layout of such a boat and why a fire on it would mean certain death to those in the bunk-room, or why there would be little means of escape.

Online Mail has a pictures of the ship and the sleeping areas. Can’t link right now.

Go take a nap Della.

grinning at r35.

[quote]I’m confused. Wasn’t this a commercial vessel? Meaning that they fish?

It also doubles for diving excursions.

The bunk room is below sea level. If the entrances to that room are blocked by fire, there are no windows/portholes to crawl through.

I’ve slept on that boat a dozen times. The stairs near the stern are pretty wide, like 2 people shoulder to shoulder could walk up. But the emergency exit near the bow is super narrow and you need to climb a ladder and pop a hatch. Worse still, the aisle between bunks is like 1-1.5 feet max. If there was a huge fire it would have been crazy panic and I can see how no one below deck could get out. What a tragedy. People out enjoying the immense beauty of the Channel Islands, getting out in nature, and this happens. You truly never know.

Those bunking conditions seem awfully cramped, worse than a Navy ship. I'm surprised that boats such as these pass inspection.

Would there have been a way to smash the hull open? I would rather risk drowning than burning to death.

How horrible. Those people were burned alive.

And that boat was just a few yards from land when it blew up. Why were they all sleeping on it?

Who would choose to sleep in bunk beds on that thing if they were that close to land? I don’t get it.

Because we dive from the boat. There is really no housing on the islands, and most are just shear cliffs that’s go into the water. No sandy beach or place for a tent. The bunks are comfortable and boat was really nice. One of the best dive boats I had ever been on.

If the boat was moored off the coast of one of the Channel Islands, they were sleeping on the boat because there are no hotels or houses on shore, staying on shore would mean camping in a chilly foggy area. And the boat may well have moved from place to place while the passengers slept in the bunks, when I took a boat like that we boarded in Ventura in the late afternoon, had a nice dinner and slept on the boat, and woke up as we got to the dive site.

But yeah, the boat I took all those years ago had a big bunk room below the water line, with a staircase for access. If a fire blocked the staircase, I don't see how anyone could have escaped. There's only one way out, you couldn't punch your way through the wall of the vessel without an axe, and doing that would have sunk the boat with everyone trapped under the water line. Plus, if there was an intense fire above the staircase, the fire would probably have consumed all the oxygen in the bunkroom. If all those people suffocated or passed out from lack of oxygen, well, I suppose that was a kinder fate than burning alive while conscious.

Background on the doomed ship “Conception.” At the bottom of the page is a “Bunk Layout” link to the ship’s floorplan/sleeping quarters.

Thanks, R43 and R44.

I have two theories. One is that the cooks started a fire by mistake in the galley, they could get out but the passengers could not. Two is possibly one of the passengers was smoking a joint or cigarette in the bunk near the stairs up, and the fire kept them from gaining access to the stairway. What a horror.

It happened at like 3:30 am. The cook doesn’t start until 6:30-7 on that boat. People that smoke usually smoke on the deck and flick their butts into the ocean.

I’m thinking they all passed out from the fumes. Some probably never woke up.

It’s such a shame there was no water nearby to put the fire out.

The ship is only now, and fleetingly, famous.

So ironic — life ends at the moment of Conception.

R33, Everyone was asleep. It was the middle of the night. Escaping that is lucky, now dealing with shock and swimming for your life.

Someone should set the OP’s house on fire and watch how they deal with that! Toast...really?

Nice and crispy.

[quote]Toast...really?

Sweet pea, you need to go back outside and read the sign over the door.

R54 There’s a sign? Which is what? I actually lost everything in a fire sweet pea. If you’re insinuating that gay means heartless. I’m 50, I took more than enough beatings to earn my gay card.

The type of people who can afford to take a dive boat to the Channel Islands are all white people with money and privilege. If 34 people had to die, at least it was them. If there’s one thing the world has no more use for, its privileged whites.

You know, there are privileged coloured people. Most aren’t white or black. Give a good think as to what colour they are! If we’re doing the racist thing, go on, what colour are they?

Dangit, I was discussing with my sister that a black crow does not signal death. Why did I see a picture of the Conception with a crow sitting on it, when the news flashed a picture of it going out to sea?

Because crows are fucking everywhere in California, R58?

R56, I’m not 100% white, and I’ve been privileged enough to get on boats, specifically in this area, various times in my life, with a bunch of other people, from all over the world.

You’re truly an emotionally damaged person if you think privileged white people, or privileged people of any color, or poor white people, deplorable or otherwise, are better off dead, due to a horrible tragedy.

You genuinely that just because some people can afford to do things that you can’t, or buy things that you cannot buy, that they’re worthy of something like this?

Babe, you sound like a sociopath, and a profoundly fucked up person. You also seem to have no clue that people don’t usually just come across a sack full of cash, where they’re suddenly “privileged”, from one day to the next. Most people earned what they have. They went to school, while holding down two jobs, they saved up, they worked weekends for many years, and they invested in order to build a future for themselves. If you didn’t have the desire to do that, the wherewithal to do that, or the ability to do that, that’s OK. That doesn’t make you less deserving of life, and it certainly doesn’t make you less deserving as a human being.

I suggest you dig deep into yourself and honestly consider why you think it’s OK or just, for people to die a unarguably GRUESOME death, just because they were on a diving trip and were able to afford it.

Unfuckingbelievable. Really fucked up.

I expected better of you, Della. Use your powers for good, not evil.

Della, I was just defending you over on the 'Biggest Cunt' thread, and someone mentioned this thread, which I hadn't had a chance to open yet. I usually find myself agreeing with you when I bump into you on the BRF threads. So I have to admit that I'm disappointed. I know DLers take pride in gallows humor (I personally don't).

I'm in the mood to capsize a boat full of self-righteous, interloping fraus right about now.

R56, you're a damaged, evil POS. I'm happy to have blocked you.

If there was ever a sign of this board being invaded by people who don't get what it is. I can't believe some of you have the gall to attack Della over this nothingness.

A bit of gallows humor is the calling card of the DL and always has been. The only way to get through the struggles of life is with a little humor.

This board has been run over by fraus

Pix and article

I’m not bitching at Della. I like Della, and I get her sense of humor. I’m bitching at R56.

I knew a first grade cunt once, who was just like R56. She herself is white, attractive, and smart as fuck. However, she’s also lazy as fuck, and disorganized, with no concept of self awareness. She hated anyone whom she perceived as “privileged”, & eventually, I was on her hate list, even though I worked for every single thing I own. And while I’ve worked in corporate America for most of my adult life, I’ve also taken public transportation before ever purchasing my first car, I’ve cleaned houses, babysat, worked as a caretaker for the elderly, swept floors, cleaned windows, washed cars, walked dogs, house-sat, answered phones, ran errands, and whatever I had to do, to make ends meet.

If R56, was being funny, then my apologies. I actually never thought people like R56 existed, until I mistakenly befriended someone who proved me wrong.

Jesus. This was a horrible way to go. I am so sorry this happened. Fuck.

R60 Some people just hate everyone that has more than they do. Especially anyone who has more money than they do no matter how hard they had to work for it. Anyone who has more money than these commenters needs to die and it makes them happy when they do, especially if it’s a painful and gruesome death.

R56 - “I’m not 100 percent white...”

Oh sweetie, bless your heart. You just proved my point. You saying you’re not quite 100 percent white probably means you’re very high in that percentile, perhaps 80-95 percent white. Watch the death announcements and I guarantee you there will be no black or brown people among them.

There was a 17 year old girl on board with her parents. They had just had a birthday party for 3 people on the boat and she was one of them. The happiness everyone on the boat must have felt at that party. It is beyond all reason that they should all come so suddenly to such an end. It makes me want to cry and I'm not the type who cries.

This was not a happy Labor Day weekend. So filled with macabre tragedy.

Well looking at the bright side, all of those beautiful fish they were going to see got fed some delicious crispy grilled human. Lord knows Ive eaten my weight seared salmon, I guess it’s their turn.

So all of the crew survived? Only them? Because they are all conveniently all upstairs? Okay.

Mary at r72 is so dramatic.

Well the past few days have been so sad. Not that everyday isn't filled with sad tragedies but this weekend seemed especially gruesome and brutal.

R74 - the crew that survived were all brown people 🤔 🤔 🤔 Perhaps Revenge on the privileged whites??

I know it’s a “tragedy” but it’s difficult for me to be sad for people that I don’t know.

No sympathy from me until I find out the victims' political orientation.

Let’s keep in mind that the nonsense published here does not harm anybody. It also has no affect on changing policy to prevent a similar disaster. Being anonymous, it doesn’t even reflect on the character of a person who wrote it. So, let’s everybody calm down.

People, here, sometimes attempt to express gallows humor and it falls flat. That’s not the end of the world.

My theory is that it was an old bot and the owner was ready to collect the insurance and retire. If a few rich assholes had to die, so be it.

Why do you think these were all rich assholes? Some people have a hobby they love passionately and put all the spare money they have into it. They occasionally can do something like this. And sometimes they have rich friends who take them along. Just because you are roasted alive trapped on a boat below water level doesn't make you a terrible person.

R82 - they were not “roasted alive.” Any intelligent person knows that you suffocate of smoke inhalation before you get “roasted.” So a proper way to describe what those rich assholes would be “the roasted recently deceased.”

Even the fish are acting up.

As somebody who has been part of the crew on such a boat before..

A) passengers are not all privileged whites, Mr Dumbass up thread

B) Just what prevented the crew from helping the passengers? I don't get it. At least trying to help.

Haven't been following closely, just what I heard on the news. They said they were locked down below? WTF? Murder!

Lawsuit!

the boat looked kinda small. What is the max capacity ?

So all people trapped in a quick spreading fire die of smoke inhalation first? Which is why people jump to their deaths when the inferno comes too close in tall buildings?

In your dreams.

R85, I would like B answered as well. This reminds me of a small scale Morro Castle disaster, where the crew abandoned the passengers aboard a burning liner.

I take it nobody read the "haunting pleas" article in the NYT today.

Has anyone optioned the movie rights yet?

R91 - LOL!!! And if they write and produce this story well, it could be the next “Titanic,” only with fire instead of ice.

[quote] R85: B) Just what prevented the crew from helping the passengers? I don't get it. At least trying to help.

Unless I learn otherwise, I assume that the fire spread too quickly. If it started in the hold while people were sleeping, it’s possible that both exits were blocked by fire before the crew or passengers noticed. I can’t fault the crew for living if it was impossible to help the passengers.

I saw a rubber house roof go up in fire once. From the ignition, to the point where the roof was fully engulfed, was probably less that 5 minutes. It happens very quickly.

Every nightclub goer should be forced to see this video. There used to be a timer in the video showing how quickly the fire spread. I think the timer is not on this video, though.

My mother always made a point of identifying the fire exists in hotels when she traveled and I’ve picked up the habit.

Flight attendants make a point of stating that floor lights will lead passengers to the exit door, because smoke may make it impossible to see, otherwise. It seems silly, since there are only two possibilities for exit, but apparently, they’ve found it helpful.

r94, the first thing I do when I get on a plane is count the number of seats to each exit in front of and behind me. I've also learned to note exists in all places I go to -- offices, restaurants, theaters, etc.

I've always wanted to take a cruise but I have to admit to being terrified of getting trapped inside if there were a fire or the boat capsized. I've seen The Poseidon Adventure too many times.

What would you have done r95 if you got trapped at the WTC in 911?

R96, I don’t know. I can’t imagine it. It’s too horrifying.

R96, I’m not R95, but I am R94.

If I was in one of the towers, I would have told my boss I was leaving as I walked by towards the exit that already knew about, and started down the stairs. I would have done so were I in either building, after the first strike.

I was in Boston at the time, where two flights originated, and after I saw the first tower fall, I told my boss I was leaving. He asked why, and I told him there was no knowing if or what the hyjackers had done in Boston before they flew out; and, that nobody was going to be working that day anyway.

The next day I heard the place emptied out right after I left. Since the stock market was closed there was little excuse to hold me there.

I hope somebody in the crew has the balls to tell the truth about what really happened. At 3:30 am it seems odd the entire crew was awake and got out.

[quote]I actually lost everything in a fire sweet pea.

Grease?

[quote] Boat on Fire off California Toast, er, I Mean Coast. At least 29 dead. -Della..... *sigh*

True to form, Della.

Classless. Really classless.

I thought it was a crime if the captain abandons ship in these types of situations?

According to what I read, there were 2 captains aboard, as required when the boat was operated overnight. Do we know if either captain was among the 5 crew members who survived?

If the fire blocked the exits from the lower deck, it would have been impossible to get anyone out.

The thing is, I don't know if it's possible to design boats that are proof against that sort of disaster. All ships and boats are built with few entrances and exits from lower decks, to keep the lower decks from flooding quickly if the ship is swamped or damaged. On a two-deck dive boat they can't berth the passengers on the safer upper deck, that has to have clear space for dive gear and getting on and off the boat and so on. So really, I don't know if it's possible to design an overnight passenger-bearing dive boat that's safe against this sort of disaster. Probably the only thing to do to prevent similar tragedies is to find out what the hell caused the fire, that it can't happen again, and neither can any other shipboard fire.

[quote]Watch the death announcements and I guarantee you there will be no black or brown people among them.

Prepare to eat your words.

I'm sure there are many black people who like to dive.

How did the fire start, do we know the cause?

Someone was smoking?

[quote]At 3:30 am it seems odd the entire crew was awake and got out.

They weren’t. Most were asleep in their bunks on the upper deck according to the report I watched on the local SF news.

The latest victims included students from a school in Santa Cruz along with two parents, and a five members of the Quintasol family from Stockton.

The Station Fire was completely engulfed in flames, just 2 minutes after ignition. My point being, that fire can spread very quickly.

I would bet that the crew consisted of 2 senior mariners, and a bunch of college kids who had no training.

At least one crew member was a cook/housekeeper. These boats provide meals.

Here’s one of R56’s privileged whites - Angela Quitasol, a junior-high teacher in Stockton.

Her father, sister, and stepmother were nurses and her other sister was a waitress.

[quote]...her other sister was a waitress.

Please let it be at a BBQ joint.

Della's comments are disgusting.

I just read about some of the victims on CNN.

One of them is Asian. Mr. Chan. He was a physics teacher in public school.

a family of 5 was onboard as well.

R104, you may be right, but looking at the layout posted early in the thread, it seems to me that the passenger deck was too crowded. (I don't mean that it was a violation, but rather that the regulations allow too much crowding.) With all those bunks jammed together along narrow aisles, how could the passengers get out safely, especially in the dark or in densely smoky conditions?

In this case, it might not have mattered. Apparently, none of the passengers escaped, which makes me think the fire spread in seconds, perhaps from an explosion. But in general, it would seem safer to have fewer bunks and wider aisles.

Whatever proves to be the cause of this tragedy, you can bet some new safety regulations will be put into place.

[quote]So all of the crew survived? Only them? Because they are all conveniently all upstairs? Okay.

It was odd that there was this woman (late teen to early 20s) morning the loss of her sister. She said she was a crew member, and that she couldn't say anymore.

All the while, I'm watching TV and thinking -- LIAR!

Get off the screen.

All the crew survived!

I can't blame the crew for leaving if the ship was an inferno by the time they woke up. There's no point to letting oneself be incinerated (which would take a whole ton of instinct to overcome) just so it could be said they went down with the ship. Alive, they can help investigators figure out what happened.

that boat is tiny, i can't believe it fit that many people!

R116 she’s not lying. According to reports there was a 26 year old female cook crew member sleeping below deck.

R119 Thanks for the info. because I was giving the side-eye on that.

[quote]It was odd that there was this woman (late teen to early 20s) morning the loss of her sister.

I think you mean MORNTING.

OMG!

I meant mourning.

Were there two cooks, R119? The local news at 11 reported that the cook who was initially said to be missing was never missing at all. But he was a middle-aged man. They had a photo of him having his blood pressure checked by the Coast Guard.

[quote] Whatever proves to be the cause of this tragedy, you can bet some new safety regulations will be put into place.

For sure.

Was Derick Almena in charge of this boat?

have they found out how the fire started yet? wtf is taking so long?!

[quote]a 26 year old female cook crew member

a 26 year old female COOKED crew member.

Detailed questioning took place over several hours as the feds are still trying to piece together how the tragedy unfolded early Monday morning near Santa Cruz Island, according to Jennifer Homendy of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Homendy refused to disclose any details from the interviews.

The captain and four crew members on deck were the only ones to survive when the 75-foot vessel — called the Conception — went under during a three-day diving excursion.

Everybody else on board was asleep below deck and trapped when the blaze broke out, officials said.

Crew members were also given alcohol and drug tests, said Homendy. The alcohol tests results came back negative, while the drug test results are still pending.

The doomed boat’s fire protection systems will also be checked, officials said.

[quote]The doomed boat’s fire protection systems will also be checked...

We've had insufficient.

I read that there were 5 survivors who took 4 blood alcohol tests and 5 blood drug tests. What about that other alcohol test? Fucking media can’t even do math and explain this.

Los Angeles (CNN)Crew members of the dive boat that was consumed in flames off the California coast on Labor Day told investigators they tried to rescue the 34 people who were still on board in the inferno, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday. Of the 39 people aboard the 75-foot dive boat Conception, only five crew members, including the captain, were found alive. The others, who were in the lower sleeping deck, likely got trapped when the roaring blaze blocked their escape routes, authorities have said. The crew was on the upper wheelhouse deck. "What's emerging from the interviews, and these are individual interviews with NTSB investigators, is a harrowing story of the moments before the fire erupted on the vessel," NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy said.

One crew member said he awoke to a noise and left his bunk to see flames erupting from the galley area below, Homendy said. The galley was above the sleeping quarters of the guests The crew members tried to get down the ladder from the galley to the sleeping area but it was engulfed in flames. They were forced to go down to the main deck from the bridge, and one of them broke their leg getting down, according to Homendy. 'The crew had to jump from the boat' A chart showing the layout of the bunk room on the website of the company that owns the Conception, Truth Aquatics, appears to show the main way in and out of the bunk room is through the galley. After reaching the main deck, the crew members went to the double doors of the galley to try to get to the passengers, but it too was engulfed in flames, NTSB investigators were told. They then tried and failed to get in through a window in the front of the vessel, Homendy said at the press conference. "At that point, due to heat, flames and smoke, the crew had to jump from the boat," Homendy said.

Some crew members swam to a skiff on the back of the boat, picked up the other crew and they made their way to a nearby vessel to call 911, Homendy said. "At that point, they left the vessel and turned back to the Conception in the skiff to try to rescue any survivors," she said. "What I shared with you is from what we heard from them," Homendy said. "So now it's our job to take that and develop a timeline." The NTSB will also evaluate whether there were "issues with evacuation or responses" or "escape survival factors," she said. The NTSB also interviewed the owner operator of the dive boat, Homendy said, without giving any details. Thirty-three bodies have been recovered, and one remains missing, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office's said.

So, the fire broke out in the kitchen -- may be due to propane? I heard on the news that a lot of devices were charging on deck, and some suspected that as the cause of the fire.

wow, maybe they used one of those shitty extension cords made in china.

This is all so tragic. One can only hope that the passengers were not aware of the fire and died of smoke inhalation. Not likely though as the crew member was awakened by a noise, so it's likely some passengers were as well. I can't even imagine the panic that must have ensued.

Someone from tithe boat called an incredulous 911

The crew would've heard the passengers screaming to get out. That's going to be a horrible memory.

I like my humans rare, not well done.

A few of the bodies showed signs of drowning so some were alive.

Survivor’s guilt will be extreme on those crew. Wouldn’t be surprised if they all got PTSD and can’t go back to work ever again.

"feds grill captain"

where the fuck are the editors?

The NTSB says there were safety "flaws", which is not exactly the same as violations. One issue - which may actually be a safety violation, was the lack of a night watchman. But it sounds like the investigators were surprised and concerned about the crowded conditions in the passenger area and the small size of the escape hatch, even if the boat met regulations.

I saw a video of the interior of the Conception's sister ship and felt claustrophobic just looking at that tiny passenger compartment.

I saw the report on CNN, they said this company had many violations in the past...on other boats etc. Bad.

I heard on the news that the company had taken some obscure legal step to protect itself from lawsuits, of course they have.

And I've been on a boat like that, it didn't feel unsafe. That boat and boats like it have been making disaster-free dive trips all over the world for the last century, and this has never happened before. Unless there was some massive safety violation we don't know about, this sounds like one of those one-in-a-billion strokes of bad luck you can't really plan for, like an airplane falling on your hosue.

what is the max capacity of that boat? it' so small.

That’s awful to hear R138.

Manhattan roof on fire!

Oh well.... I don’t really think these people deserve our pity. They were privileged people who had the luxury of diving the Channel Islands. Fuck them!

Man, reading that some of the trapped passengers actually drowned is heartbreaking. This is just so, so fucked. And I agree with the poster who likened this to a one in a billion stroke of bad luck.

You just never know.

Santa Barbara County's sheriff (who is also the medical examiner) said at today's press conference that, based on external examination, they're confident enough that it was smoke inhalation that they won't be doing any autopsies.

On the news, they said the bodies showed signs of dying of smoke inhalation, so they are not doing autopsies.

Sorry, I couldn't see the latest posts for some odd reason. R149

R147 is fun at parties

R149 and R150

No autopsies. I'm thinking the coroner doesn't want to do 34 autopsies, when it's evident that this wasn't murder.

Or that the results maybe too upsetting to the families. Earlier reports said several bodies showed signs of drowning, meaning they were alive when they hit the water.

I heard there were only two ways to get out, the main one was engulfed in flames and the emergency one which a normal size human would have trouble getting through especially in a fire like this breaks out with a bunch of people and most likely zero visibility.

that boat is a fire hazard. Due to some maritime law, they don't have to pay a single cent.

That is messed up, I would want autopsy if my family died in that fire. I would want to know so there would be no mystery, for closure etc.

[quote]a normal size human would have trouble getting through

Well, thank god Mrs. Rosen wasn't on board.

Oops, my bad.

[quote]That is messed up, I would want autopsy if my family died in that fire. I would want to know so there would be no mystery, for closure etc.

The families should know their rights, because they have every right for one.

I don't understand how they skip the autopsies. After every major disaster or accident, post mortems are done because investigators need to know how each person died in relation to where they were and to identify any previous unknown contributions to the deaths. I hope the SB County sheriff misspoke or that he's overruled. Why would would you not do autopsies?

R153, that's not a good reason to omit autopsying these victims. If it's too much work the for the Santa Barbara medical examiner's office, I'm sure assistance would be available from other localities.

Without going into the gory detail, death by smoke inhalation is unmistakable. Still, considering the lawsuits to come, you would think they’d at least go through the motions in a case like this.

Maybe the families will have private autopsies performed.

There's only three possible causes of death in this instance - drowning, burning, smoke inhalation. If there's no water in the lungs then they either died from smoke inhalation or burned. If they burned, you have a crispy critter body. If you don't, then they died of smoke inhalation.

There. No need for an autopsy- draw your own conclusion.

Sure. Because no one has ever burned after dying of smoke inhalation.

... and no one has ever been murdered, with the murder concealed by fire. No one has ever had a stroke, leading to an accident caused a fire. All deaths are exactly what they appear to be upon superficial examination.

[quote]... and no one has ever been murdered, with the murder concealed by fire.

Exactly!

If they were already murdered, how did they inhale the smoke?

You could have had a murderer/suicide. He sets the boat on fire, killing himself and murdering the people.

Or... you can have a murderer, who set the boat on fire and jumped off the boat, since there is one person missing but assumed dead.

I love you, Della!

This is all just fascinating discussing the possible causes of death, but what difference does it make? They are dead and we may never know all the causes.

FBI just raided the boat company 's office.

The NTSB's preliminary report just came out. The whole crew was asleep; no one was on the required night watch. Some crew members told investigators that they hadn't been given emergency-management training.

The missing body was found yesterday.

[quote] Some crew members told investigators that they hadn't been given emergency-management training.

Did they not have fire extinguishers handy? It doesn't take much to figure things out. I do know that some jumped off and returned to the boat only to figure out that it was too late to help at that point.

I'm wondering whether something come had been done before they jumped ship.

HUMOR FAIL

[quote] HUMOR FAIL

I'LL SAY