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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
National
Richard Winton

Coast Guard's failure to act on boat safety costs lives in Conception fire, feds say

LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators on Monday criticized the U.S. Coast Guard for failing to heed years of boat safety recommendation, saying more aggressive action could have prevented the 2019 boat fire that killed 34 off the coast here as well as other deadly maritime incidents.

Jennifer Homendy, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, speaking at a Congressional transportation subcommittee, described decades of intransigence by the Coast Guard, which is meant to regulate maritime safety.

Monday's hearing in Santa Barbara was a short trip from where the Conception dive boat burned off the Channel Islands on Labor Day 2019, the worst maritime disaster in modern California history.

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