The captain of the Conception, the dive boat on which 34 people died during a fire in 2019, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to seaman’s manslaughter charges. Jerry Boylan, the dive boat captain, is brought back to the U.S. Coast Guard station in Oxnard in October 2019. Prosecutors singled out three violations: failing to have one crew member awake at all times to patrol the boat, failing to conduct sufficient fire drills and failing to conduct sufficient crew training. The charge of seaman’s manslaughter has been used in other recent high profile cases of negligence and misconduct at sea. Federal prosecutors in Missouri charged a duck boat captain and two others with the crime after 17 people died from a boat capsizing in 2018.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 17, 2021 02:03 UTC