Los Angeles (AFP) - The captain of a dive boat that caught fire and sank off the California coast in 2019, leaving 34 people dead, has been found guilty of negligence in a US court.
Federal prosecutors said late Monday that Jerry Boylan, who captained the Conception, was convicted by a jury of one count of misconduct, or an offense often described as "seaman's manslaughter," and faces up to 10 years in prison.
During a Labor Day holiday weekend dive trip in 2019, a fire broke out as guests and crew slept below deck aboard the 75-foot (23-meter) wood-and-fiberglass boat anchored off Santa Cruz Island.
Thirty-three passengers and one crew member died. Five crew managed to escape including Boylan, now 69.
"This ship captain's unpardonable cowardice led to the deaths of 34 lives on Labor Day 2019," United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
"As the jury found, this tragedy could have been avoided had Mr Boylan simply performed the duties he was entrusted to carry out."
The disaster was the worst US maritime accident in recent years.
When the fire broke out before dawn on September 2, five crew members tried to reach the 34 people sleeping below deck but jumped overboard after they were unable to open a forward window and were overwhelmed by smoke.
The fire was so intense that firefighters could not board the vessel, which sank as they tried to extinguish the blaze.
The boat had been wrapping up a three-day diving excursion around the Channel Islands, off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Over the course of a 10-day trial, evidence showed how Boylan committed a series of failures, including abandoning his ship and failing to keep a night watch.
"Let this tragedy be a lesson to anyone who commands a boat with vulnerable passengers that proper training, diligence and life-saving measures -- when called for -- are necessary to safeguard those left in one's charge," said Donald Alway, assistant director of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
Boylan was charged under a relatively uncommon criminal provision specific to seamen and people in related fields that opens the category to prosecution for negligence resulting in death.
