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Associated Press

Two Singaporeans were among the dozens of people who died while trapped on a scuba diving boat that caught fire off the Southern California coast earlier this week, it has emerged.
The 34 people killed were trapped in a cramped bunkroom below the main deck of the Conception after the fire broke out around 3am Monday and quickly engulfed the boat.
Wei Tan, a 26-year-old from Goleta, California, was among those identified by authorities on Friday.
Tan, who was from Singapore, studied chemical engineering at University of Michigan and industrial engineering and operations research at University of California, Berkeley.


“It hurts, it will always hurt, but we will move on,” her older sister Cheerin Tan posted on Facebook.
Earlier this year, Tan started working as a data scientist for Evidation Health, according to her social media pages.
Christine Lemke, Evidation’s president, said the news was heartbreaking.
“Her smile lit up the world and she’ll be sorely missed,” she said in a statement.
I thought this was a hoax, my whole life is gone
Sojit Singh, father of Sunil Singh Sandhu
Maribel Leonio, executive officer at Singapore’s consulate in San Francisco, said another Singaporean citizen, Sunil Singh Sandhu, was also on the list of passengers.
His father, Sojit Singh, told The New Paper in Singapore that his mind went blank when he heard the news.
“I thought this was a hoax,” he said. “My whole life is gone.”
Singh said his son was a health buff who took up scuba diving about two months ago.
In a LinkedIn profile, Sandhu said he worked as a silicon photonics senior scientist at Pointcloud Inc in Northern California.
He obtained a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2011.
He later worked as a postdoctoral fellow researching the interaction between matter and light, the profile said.
He also studied Japanese, Chinese and Russian and previously served a year in Singapore’s armed forces as an infantry officer, the profile said.

Preliminary findings on the causes of death, announced by Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown on Friday, raise the possibility the victims inhaled highly toxic smoke and died in their sleep before being scorched by flames that burned their bodies beyond recognition.
“The indicators are from the preliminary examination of the bodies that the victims died prior to being burned,” Brown said.
The revelation came as investigators continued to search for the cause of the deadly blaze, with divers looking for the body of one missing victim. Late on Friday afternoon, the coastguard said safety concerns over the weather halted efforts to salvage the dive boat.
While local, state and federal agencies try to solve the mystery of what doomed the dive boat, the investigation has not taken a criminal turn, Brown said, though he said that was a possibility.

Under federal law known as the seaman’s manslaughter statute, a captain or crew member can be charged with a crime if their negligence or misconduct results in death.
Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who is a professor at Loyola Law School, said it is too early to discuss charges.
“There are lots questions to answer, including what even constitutes negligence. In other words, do you have to have somebody on watch, enough fire extinguishers or ways to, you know, get out – enough exits?” Levenson said. “Certainly if they find out there was negligence or misconduct this is a possibility, but it’s too soon.”
Twenty-three of the 33 bodies recovered have been positively identified through DNA, and their family members around the world are being notified, Brown said.
Dozens die in their bunks as horror fire engulfs scuba diving boat off California coast
Next of kin have been tracked down as far away as Singapore, Japan and India.
Brown said the cause and manner of death was being determined through external exams and not traditional autopsies. Final results will depend on toxicology tests.
Dr. Howard Robin, an expert in forensic pathology, said it’s hard to know how the people died without an autopsy, but said it’s possible they died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning.
“You don’t know if they suffered or not,” Robin said. “I would think if there’s a fire and they were breathing in the carbon monoxide, there would soot, and then there would be a cough and … then they would wake up.”
Robin said the lack of autopsies could present a challenge during any lawsuits brought by family members because those results are typically used to support damages for pain and suffering.
The owner of the boat, Truth Aquatics Inc., pre-emptively filed a lawsuit on Thursday under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that could protect it from potentially costly payouts to families of the dead, a move condemned by some observers as disrespectful and callous.

The company said in a statement posted on Instagram on Friday that the litigation is an “unfortunate side of these tragedies” and pinned the action on insurance companies and other so-called stakeholders.
“This wouldn’t be something that we as a family would even consider,” the company said. “The timing is on them. Our hearts and minds are on the tragedy and finding answers.”
Coastguard records show the boat passed its two most recent inspections with no safety violations. And previous customers said Truth Aquatics and the captains of its three boats were very safety conscious.
Five crew members jumped overboard after trying to rescue the 33 scuba divers and one crew member whose escape routes were blocked by fire, federal authorities and the boat’s owner said. The crew, including the captain, said they were driven back by flames, smoke and heat.
Within minutes, they would’ve been consumed
Glen Fritzler, co-owner of Truth Aquatics Inc
They jumped from the bridge area to the main deck – one breaking a leg in the effort – and tried to get through the double doors of the galley, which were on fire.
That cut off both escape routes from the sleeping quarters: a stairway and an escape hatch that exited in the galley area. The crew then tried, but failed, to get into windows at the front of the vessel.
Captain Jerry Boylan stayed aboard trying to send radio distress calls and was the last one in the water, said Glen Fritzler, co-owner of Truth Aquatics Inc. of Santa Barbara.
“The other crew at a certain point when the flames had engulfed the boat and they were in the water, they could see Jerry jump from the upper deck, a long jump. And there was a trail of smoke following him. They thought he was on fire,” Fritzler told KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara.
“Within minutes, they would’ve been consumed,” he said. “So they did their best. They did re-enter the vessel from the back of the boat after they swam around it. They could not get to firefighting equipment because everything was engulfed.”
Fritzler said the experience has traumatised the survivors.
“They’re breaking down,” he said. “They’re seeking counselling. It’s a very tough time for them.”


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Two Singaporeans among victims of horror boat fire in California that killed 34 people

Flowers memorialising the victims of the fire float in the water near the docks of Truth Aquatics, owner of the dive boat Conception. Photo: EPA

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 03: People embrace at Santa Barbara Harbor at a makeshift memorial for victims of the Conception boat fire on September 3, 2019 in Santa Barbara, California. Authorities believe none of the 34 people below deck survived after the commercial scuba diving ship caught fire and sank, while moored near Santa Cruz Island, in the early morning hours of September 2. Five crew members survived. Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

(190906) -- LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6, 2019 (Xinhua) -- People take part in a prayer and vigil for the boat fire victims at Santa Monica Beach in Santa Monica, California, the United States, Sept. 5, 2019. Local authorities confirmed Thursday that 34 people died in the dive boat fire off the Southern California coast early Monday. U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday that it will release a preliminary report in 10 days about the cause of the dive boat fire. A final report about the early Monday accident resulting in an estimated 34 deaths could take two years to release, said NTSB member Jennifer Homendy on a press conference held in Santa Barbara. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

epa07814093 A handout photo made available by the Ventura County Fire Department shows the burned out boat Conception, off the north side of Santa Cruz Island, California, USA, 02 September 2019. According to reports, at least 25 people have been killed and nine were still missing, after a boat caught fire near Santa Cruz Island. EPA-EFE/VENTURA COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT HANDOUT BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

All 34 passengers died in raging blaze on California dive boat, officials say as workers try to recover bodies

US Coast Guard Captain Monica Rochester outside the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's headquarters in California. Photo: AP Photo

People strop to pause over a makeshift memorial near Truth Aquatics as the search continues for those missing in a pre-dawn fire that sank a commercial diving boat off a Southern California island near Santa Barbara, California, U.S., September 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Long Beach police are viewed through a makeshift memorial near Truth Aquatics as the search continues for those missing in a pre-dawn fire that sank a commercial diving boat near Santa Barbara, California, U.S., September 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Dozens die in their bunks as horror fire engulfs scuba diving boat off California coast

The burned out boat Conception, before it sank. Photo: EPA

This January 2019 photo tweeted by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows the dive-boat Conception returning to Santa Barbara Harbor in Santa Barbara, Calif. A fatal fire swept through Conception early Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, while anchored off Santa Cruz Island. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire via AP)

In this image made from video provided by KCBS authorities assist a man who was rescued from a deadly boat fire Monday, Sept. 2, 2019, off Santa Cruz Island, in Calif. (KCBS via AP)

This image made from video released by TowBoatUS Ventura shows an emergency responder douses dive boat "Conception," before it sank off Santa Cruz Island, near the coast of Ventura County, Calif., early Monday, Sept. 2, 2019. (Capt. Paul Amaral/TowBoatUS Ventura via AP)

epa07812988 A handout photo made available by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows the Conception on fire off the north side of Santa Cruz Island, California, USA, 02 September 2019. According to reports, firefighters resonded to a distress call from a 75ft diving boat with more than 30 people on board near Santa Cruz Island. EPA-EFE/SANTA BARBARA COUNTY FIRE HANDOUT BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

The fire broke out aboard the Conception, while it was moored just off the shore of Santa Cruz Island. Photo: Reuters

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Domestic workers are the slaves of modern Asia. Are Hongkongers, Singaporeans and Malaysians ever going to change?

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number of domestic workers

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Indonesian migrant workers attend a May Day rally, also known as Labour Day, in Hong Kong on May 1, 2018. (Photo by DALE DE LA REY / AFP)

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Investigators continue to search for the cause of the deadly blaze that engulfed the 22-metre commercial dive boat Conception
None of the passengers – who were sleeping below decks when the fast-moving fire broke out before dawn on Monday – survived



Investigators continue to search for the cause of the deadly blaze that engulfed the 22-metre commercial dive boat Conception as its occupants slept below decks before dawn on Monday.


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