'I can’t breathe': Mayday call from boat on fire

Smoking remains of Conception dive boat off Santa Cruz Island.

Sept. 2, 2019 2:59 PM PT

In a mayday call alerting authorities to the fire aboard a boat in the Channel Islands off Ventura County early Monday, the caller said he could not breathe and that there was no escape hatch for 33 people below the deck.

Late Monday, at least 15 people were confirmed dead while others remained missing after the 75-foot commercial scuba diving boat Conception erupted in flames near Santa Cruz Island.

Dive teams were working to recover bodies outside and inside the boat, which was upside down at the bottom of the sea, in about 62 feet of water, authorities said.

Those on board were thought to be sleeping below deck when the fire broke out in the predawn hours.

The call was garbled but frantic.

“Mayday, mayday, mayday! Conception ... north side of Santa Cruz,” a man called in at about 3:15 a.m., his words accompanied by static.

A Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach dispatcher asked the vessel’s position and the number of people on board.

“...I can’t breathe!” the man said.

“You have 29 persons on board and you can’t breathe? What is your current GPS position?” the dispatcher asked.

There is a cacophony of noise and static. The man goes silent, and the dispatcher tries getting him to speak again as nearby boats rush toward the area.

Then, a man can be heard:

“Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception! ... Reporting a vessel on fire.”

Dispatch: “... Your vessel is on fire? Is that correct? ... Are you on board the Conception?”

Some of the dispatcher’s questions are met with unintelligible sounds. It is unclear, in parts of the call, whether the person speaking is a dispatcher or someone connected to the Conception.

A man says: “Roger, there’s 33 people on board the vessel that’s on fire. They can’t get off.”

Dispatch: “Roger, are they locked inside the boat? Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the door so they can get off? Roger, you don’t have any firefighting gear at all, no fire extinguishers or anything?”

Dispatch: “...Is this the captain of the Conception?...”

Dispatch: “...Was that all the crew that jumped off?...”

Dispatch: “Is the vessel fully engulfed now?”

A man says: “Roger, and there’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board.”

Five crew members already were awake and jumped off the boat, which was 20 yards offshore of the north side of Santa Cruz Island, according to Coast Guard Capt. Monica Rochester.

The five crew members were rescued by a good Samaritan boat, the Grape Escape, according to the agency. Two of them sustained leg injuries.

The dispatcher put out a request: “Platts Harbor. The Coast Guard has received a report of the vessel Conception on fire.... All mariners are requested to keep a sharp lookout. Assist if possible. Report any signs to the U.S. Coast Guard.”

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The burned hulk of the Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

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The burned hulk of the Conception is brought to the surface by a salvage team off Santa Cruz Island. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

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A mourner pays her respects at a memorial made up of scuba tanks, one for each victim, during the vigil at Chase Palm Park on Friday night. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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Mourners gather for a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening honoring the victims of the Conception boat fire that broke out off Santa Cruz Island before dawn Monday and claimed 34 lives. (Luis Sinco)

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Glen Fritzler, left, co-owner of Truth Aquatics and the dive boat Conception, consoles an attendee during a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)

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Scuba diver Julia Donath joins mourners for a vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening to honor the 34 victims that died in the Conception boat fire. (Luis Sinco)

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Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, with other officials, presents a wreath during the vigil at Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara on Friday evening homor the 34 victims of the Conception boat fire. (Luis Sinco)

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Some of the thousands of people join a vigil on the beach in honor of those who lost their lives in the Conception boat fire along the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

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Allison Metchikof, left and Rachel Levi, right, embrace during a vigil hosted by Deep Blue Scuba Center in honor of the victims aboard the dive ship Conception in Long Beach. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

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Divers and support crews from many agencies work the scene of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County)

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The derrick barge Salta Verde off the coast of Santa Cruz Island upon its arrival late Wednesday at the scene of the wreck of the dive boat Conception. (U.S. Coast Guard)

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The search area where divers were looking through the sunken wreckage of the Conception is outlined. (KABC-TV)

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Divers and support crews from many agencies work the scene of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County)

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The owners of Truth Aquatics and the dive boat Conception, Glen and Dana Fritzler, right, and their daughter Ashley, left, during an interview in Santa Barbara, Calif. (KEYT-TV)

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Surfer Tim DeVries of Santa Barbara views the “Lost at Sea Memorial” at the end of the Santa Barbara Harbor jetty Thursday morning. The memorial reads “In memory of our loved ones whose lives and destinies have been claimed by the sea.” (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Members of the FBI dive team view a growing memorial prior to departing Thursday morning to the site of the dive boat tragedy. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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People pay their respects at a makeshift memorial in Santa Barbara for victims of the deadly dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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CJ Andelman, 12, of Santa Barbara, who has become a scuba diver along with her twin sister, plays her harp Wednesday morning during the memorial at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Jennifer Homendy, center, of the National Transportation Safety Board, with other NTSB and Coast Guard officials on Santa Barbara Harbor aboard Vision, the sister ship to Conception. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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Santa Barbara resident Britany Martin lets her son Theo, 2, place flowers at a growing memorial to the fire victims at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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FBI dive team members prepare to leave Santa Barbara Harbor on Wednesday morning and head to the site of the fire. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

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A memorial is growing at Santa Barbara Harbor, where the dive boat Conception was based. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Olivia, left, sister of a female crew member thought to have died in the boat fire, hugs Jennifer Stafford, who placed flowers at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Search and rescue personnel remove one of more than a dozen body bags in Santa Barbara Harbor after the Conception diving boat caught fire early Monday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

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After hanging a dive flag in memory of the victims, JJ Lambert, 38, who said he had dived off the Conception as a kid, is hugged by Jenna Marsala, 33, at Santa Barbara Harbor near where the Conception departed. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

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Orlando Aldana places candles, one for each person aboard the Conception, at a makeshift memorial at Sea Landing in the Santa Barbara Harbor. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

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At Santa Barbara Harbor, James Miranda kneels in prayer. “It’s a very sad moment for California,” he said. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Rescuers and law enforcement, on a boat docked at Santa Barbara Harbor, move a body that was recovered after Monday’s deadly boat fire. (Daniel Dreifuss / Associated Press)

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The body of a victim is moved at Santa Barbara Harbor. (Daniel Dreifuss / Associated Press)

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U.S. Coast Guard searches for victims of the dive boat fire off Santa Cruz Island on Monday afternoon. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times )

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Dive boat captain Jerry Boylan is brought back to U.S. Coast Guard headquarters at Channel Islands Harbor on Monday in Oxnard. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Firefighters arrive back at the U.S. Coast Guard Station after battling the fire. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

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The captain of the Grape Escape boat, which rescued survivors of a boat fire off the Channel Islands, looks on near the U.S. Coast Guard Station Channel Islands in Oxnard on Monday. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

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Firefighters battle a blaze on a dive boat near Santa Cruz Island. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department)

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A diving boat fire near Santa Cruz Island off the Ventura County coast. (Santa Barbara County Fire Department)

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The dive boat Conception is engulfed in flames after a deadly fire broke out aboard the vessel off the Southern California Coast. (Santa Barbara County)