The captain of a dive boat that caught fire off the coast of Southern California in 2019, killing all 33 passengers and one of its six crew members, was found guilty by a federal jury on Monday on one count of an offense known as “seaman’s manslaughter.”When the commercial scuba diving vessel, the Conception, caught fire in a harbor near Santa Cruz Island early on the morning of Sept. 2, 2019, all the passengers were sleeping below deck.
Prosecutors say the captain, Jerry Nehl Boylan, successfully escaped, along with four members of the crew, without trying to help them.
Mr. Boylan failed to carry out his duties as a ship officer in part by “failing to perform any lifesaving or firefighting activities whatsoever at the time of the fire, even though he was uninjured,” the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said in a news release on Monday that announced the conviction.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February, the release said.
Mr. Boylan could face up to 10 years in prison.
Persons:
”, Jerry Nehl Boylan, Boylan
Organizations:
Prosecutors, United States Attorney’s Office, Central, Central District of
Locations:
Southern California, Santa Cruz, United, Central District, Central District of California