The captain of a dive boat has been convicted of criminal negligance after 34 people were killed on board the boat. Jerry Boylan, the captain, was found guilty of misconduct/neglect of a ship officer in a trial in Los Angeles, Calif.
The fire occurred in 2019 on the commercial scuba diving vessel, the Conception. The boat caught fire near Santa Cruz Island, Calif. on the morning of Sept. 2, 2019. All passengers were sleeping below deck. Boylan and four members of the crew excaped but it is maintained that they did not attempt to help the passengers.
Boylan was convicted of “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 press release that announced the conviction.