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Entire Crew of Doomed California Boat Was Asleep When Fire Erupted: NTSB

The boat was required to have a “roving watch” on guard at night.

The entire crew aboard a scuba diving boat that caught fire off the coast of California last week, killing 34 people, was asleep before the blaze erupted, a report from the National Transportation Security Board said Thursday. “According to its certificate of inspection, the passenger vessel Conception was required to have a roving watch,” Lisa Novak, a spokeswoman for the United States Coast Guard, told the New York Times. The report said the 33 passengers and one crew member were asleep on the lowest level, while five crew members were sleeping on the top of the boat’s three levels. The five crew members made multiple attempts to reach the trapped passengers, according to the report. The NTSB is still trying to determine the cause of the fire and propose new regulations on boats of this type, build, and operation. The body of the last missing victim was recovered on Wednesday.