MV Conception - dive boat fire. Suggestions for improved diving boat standards

Discussion in 'All Things Boats & Boating' started by JosephT, Sep 4, 2019.

  1. JosephT
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    JosephT Senior Member

  2. Sparky568
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    Sparky568 Junior Member

    Interview by former crew member. Such a horrible tragedy. Condolences to all those affected. Most people in the aftermath of such an event point to safety equipment or procedures. I work in the commercial construction industry (30 + years) and we have the most rigorous safety training and requirements I have ever seen. I can tell you this s*** can and will happen despite everyone’s best efforts. Less likely now but it still occurs.

     
  3. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    Since I pointed that article out yesterday, I think we are all aware of what the NTSB is doing. I doubt that the scuttle is too small. That no one got out may have more to do with the fire than with the scuttle. For all we know at this point, they all could have been asphyxiated before the deck watch noticed the fire. We should let the NTSB do its job.
     
  4. JosephT
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    JosephT Senior Member

    Great interview by this former crewman. He describes a "big" 30in x 30in aft escape hatch. I don't care what anybody says that's too small for so many crew. Agree that $hit happens.
     
  5. Sparky568
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    Sparky568 Junior Member

    Doing some surfing I found another video. Not certain this is the same boat but if it is I believe the “escape hatch” is shown at 0:21 to the right of the women’s head. Damn small in my opinion.




    Also why would both egresses lead to the galley? Any of you designers / architects see this as a problem or against some design guidelines.

    I hate to speculate but I hear the feds are looking at LiIon chargers for the dive light batteries. Must have been several dozen plugged in somewhere.
     
  6. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    It's not the preferred condition, but not against any requirements. Often it is impossible due to arrangements, like on submarines, to have two completely separate paths topside. The concept behind two escape paths per compartment is that the casualty is in the compartment, not that the compartment is cut off. Even having multiple escape paths will not help in situations like the USS OKALAHOMA or the MV SEWOL. FWIW, damage control rule of thumb is that in an enclosed compartment fire you have about one minute to evacuate or put out the fire. After that, smoke and heat will drive everyone but a geared up fire-fighting team out of the space.
     
  7. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    For me, no investigation will be acceptable if they don't address inherent problems of egress. Those problems include lack of sufficient egress and location of egress.

    And that isn't to pin down causes et al, but to recognize the industry has a problem; not unlike the duck boat tragedy where people could not get out. Early, yes. Likely, yes.

    Fire on deck, watchman sleeping, smoke alarms activate late are all damned poor excuses for 30 or so people dying in my book.

    As for the ingress issue of a hullside escape; with modern technology; it seems pretty simple to me to me to be able to build a one way popout window with an alarm on it to alert crew if opened rather than all deck egress with a fire on deck(eg).

    Of course it is speculation, but 30 pax dying below deck has some inherently obvious issues.

    It is a come on man moment.
     
  8. jehardiman
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    jehardiman Senior Member

    Preliminary report, we should wait for the final...
    Article:
    Smoke, not fire, blamed for 34 deaths in dive boat disaster
    [​IMG] STEFANIE DAZIO and BRIAN MELLEY,Associated Press
     
  9. BlueBell
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Hard to find exits in unfamiliar, sleeping environments, especially when full of smoke!
    Crew complacency can create situations like this. A lack of drills and safety-briefings perhaps.
    Properly installed smoke alarms should have alerted earlier.
     
  10. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

  11. BlueBell
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    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

  12. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Last edited: Sep 12, 2019
  13. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    The in the above article mentioned "charging station" looks to be the "Charging Room" (actually a charging closet) in the center of the guests cabin, as pictured on the MV Conception bunk layout drawing in post #11.

    fire truth aquatics mv conception dive trip boat bunk layout personal electronics charging room.jpg
    Original from Truth AquaticsMV Conception

    P.S. - see update in post #45 + #46
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2019
  14. Angélique
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    Angélique aka Angel (only by name)

    Hard to investigate if their Nitrox system (specs in post #11 & #18) was faulty and leaking O2 enriched air into the boat before the fire, if so then that would make everything inside highly flammable, and not much of a spark would have been needed to set of such an uncontrollable blaze . . :(
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2019

  15. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Angel - changing room methinks
     
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