If it is a hit job, as Mr. Jones says, there are a few questions that need to be answered.

The boat that picked up the 4 crew members was called The Grape Escape, owned by a Mr. and Mrs. Hanson. They were 200 yards off from the Conception. The crew members banged on their boat while in a dingy.

Most of the passengers were from the North County, Santa Cruz and the Bay Area. The accident happened on the West side of the Santa Cruz Island. coincidence?

Although Mr. Stone says that there was a locked door to the sleeping births, both the Los Angeles Times and the Santa Barbara Newspress haven't mentioned anything about a locked cabin door, however some photographers mentioned that there was an escape hatch above one of the bunks, (the bunks were 3 tiers high), which was enclosed by a piece of plywood. He mentioned it would be very difficult if not impossible to find it in a smoke filled compartment with no lights.

The Coast Guard Captain mentioned there were curtains separating the various sleeping berths as well as the double berths.

There were a few fire extinguishers available on each deck, (3 decks) and in the sleeping quarters. The Captain of the Conception always gave a tour of where to find them as well as how to exit the boat in case of emergency.

The only remaining question is 'who was on the list'? Also....4 families have not responded and a investigation from the Sheriff's office is determining how to get a hold of them.

They are currently doing DNA tests on all those deceased. The sheriff said it would go fast, as they are using an updated instrument that was used for the 'Camp fire' in Paradise. Is there a connection here?

There were actually 6 crew members, one was sleeping down stairs with the others. The 5 escaped by jumping into the ocean. 2 of them had leg injuries. One broke his leg, (he left by ambulance), and the other had an ankle injury.

The crew members were questioned by the authorities, (sheriffs).

We may never learn if it was a hit job. It does sound suspicious.

: Burning boat story does not add up, and sounds like a hit job
: Last week end a California scuba diving boat burned 150 feet
: off shore with a large number of people trapped in the hull
: who all died because they could not escape with the flames
: blocking their way out. There's a REAL PROBLEM with this
: story, so much so it sounds like a hit job.

: Here's the story: All the passengers died, and all the crew
: survived. The crew, which was not sleeping where the
: passengers were sleeping all jumped ship when the fire
: started and the people in the sleeping area could not
: escape because the door was locked. They had to sit there
: and wait for the wall to burn through before they could get
: out, and by then it would be such a fire storm . . . . .
: forget it. Here's the problem that makes me think it was a
: hit job: Why would the door to the passenger area need to
: be locked at all? Why would they be intentionally trapped
: into a space like that? And the boat was not huge. It was
: only 75 feet long which means that if there was a sleeping
: area able to accommodate 45 people the door to it had to
: have been readily accessible somewhere that would be easy
: for the crew to get to.

: What crew abandons ship and lets everyone burn like that? That
: is another weird part of this story. Perhaps it was 1
: selfish j****ss captain and 4 illegals, or maybe it was a
: paid hit. No matter what the story, the crew needs to fry
: for this, it should be definite long term jail time. You
: don't just let 30+ passengers burn to death when obviously
: if you could get off the boat, you could have unlocked that
: door also with the help of a couple crew mates pushing the
: fire back with fire extinguishers the boat was required by
: law to have, and definitely had. They did not need to put
: the fire out totally, just push it back enough to get in
: there and at least give the passengers a chance to run
: through a burning door.

: It has been confirmed that the crew members and the captain
: were all awake at the time of the incident, and simply
: jumped off the boat rather than let anyone out. It is also
: confirmed that this particular boat had a lot of high
: profile customers, often Hollywood celebrities. 33 people
: were in the sleeping area, ALL ASLEEP, none laying awake
: reading books, listening to tunes, prepping scuba gear,
: calling mom, NONE. Every last one was asleep while the
: entire crew was awake and no one smelled smoke or knew fire
: broke out . . . . RIGHT. This is an obvious hit job.

: I flatly don't believe this scenario as presented. It is too
: much against common decency and logic. I instead think we
: ought to know who was on that boat, to give someone a
: reason to pay the crew off to cause this, plus lose their
: boat. The boat was made in 1985 if I remember right, it was
: well maintained but it was not new. Great for an insurance
: write off, provided there was an additional payoff in this
: somewhere.

: QUESTION: WHO WAS ON THAT BOAT?

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