Victims in deadly Conception fire were awake, tried to escape burning boat, report says

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KABC) — Three years after the Conception boat fire killed 34 people off the coast of Santa Barbara, a video recovered from one of the victim’s cellphones shows the divers were awake and trying to get off the burning boat, according to a report.

The Los Angeles Times reports that investigators have shown at least one video clip from a female diver’s badly damaged cellphone to several family members of the victims.

In the video, people can be seen trying to find a way out from below deck as smoke filled their sleeping quarters.

The ship’s captain, Jerry Boylan, has pleaded not guilty to misconduct and gross negligence that led to the 34 deaths on Labor Day 2019.