At a press conference held on Monday in Santa Monica, attorneys for four victims of the Conception dive boat fire announced challenges to the shipowners’ effort to seek protection behind a pre-Civil War maritime law. The papers were filed on behalf of the families of crewmember Allie Kurtz, and divers/passengers Yulia Krashennaya of Berkeley, and husband-and-wife Kaustbh Nirmal and Sanjeeri Deopujari of Connecticut.
“The defendants killed these victims by breaking the law and failing to have a roving night watch whose job was to prevent the very catastrophe that occurred,” said Robert Mongeluzzi in a press release; he is a name partner in Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, a law firm based in Philadelphia that includes maritime law among its specialties. The documents, filed in the federal Central District Court for California with Santa Monica attorney firm Panish Shea & Boyle, allege Truth Aquatics, Glen Fritzler, and Dana Fritzler also violated Coast Guard regulations by failing to provide a safe means to store and charge lithium-ion batteries, widely used in underwater photography. The night before the fire, the passengers dove into the waters of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary on a night dive.
Federal investigators have yet to conclude what caused the fire that killed 33 scuba divers and one crew member off the coast of Santa Cruz Island that Labor Day weekend, but the Coast Guard sent a bulletin a week later advising small passenger vessels to be aware of the fire danger of power strips and lithium-ion batteries, and to follow all regulations concerning emergency preparation, firefighting, lifesaving, and means of escape.