In its final investigative report on last year’s Conception tragedy, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended several measures already being considered by the U.S. Congress in a bill sponsored by Congressmember Salud Carbajal.
“Keep in mind,” the congressmember said on Monday, “the NTSB had issued a preliminary report outlining the issues they saw immediately. That allowed me to use it as a framework of legislation and the measures that needed to be taken to improve the safety of small vessels in the future.”
Complacency aboard the 39-year-old vessel led to the tragedy on Labor Day weekend in 2019, said Carbajal. The NTSB report issued last month largely blamed the lack of a roving night watch , which could have quickly spotted the fire that led to the deaths of 34 people below decks from smoke inhalation. The Conception had lacked a night watch for some time, both crew and former passengers said, and compliance with the rule was not something the Coast Guard could easily examine. “You can’t just leave it to chance that people are complying with being awake,” Carbajal said. “You need to put in a system, some kind of technology, for instance, that the night-watch person has to click every half hour or hour. At night, it’s important to do that.”