The co-owner of a Santa Cruz-based diving company is missing after a scuba boat caught on fire early Monday and sunk off the coast of Southern California, leaving at least 25 dead and nine people missing as of Tuesday morning.
Kristy Finstad, 41, is a diving instructor and marine biologist who operates Worldwide Diving Adventures with her husband Dan Chua. She was aboard the Conception when it caught fire early Monday, according to a Facebook post by her brother, Brett Harmeling.
“She’d be the person who could make it if it’s possible. She could hold her breath for an insane amount of time. It just doesn’t sound like there was a chance for anyone to get out,” Harmeling, 31, told the New York Daily News in a phone interview. “She’s done this trip hundreds of times.”
The diving company chartered the 75-foot vessel owned and operated by Truth Aquatics in Santa Barbara for a three-day diving excursion off the Channel Islands, Harmeling said. Finstad’s husband was leading a diving trip off the coast of Costa Rica when the blaze broke out, The Mercury News reported.
Stella's Place 
This is just mind boggling to me.
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What is mind boggling to me is that a commercial sailing ship isn’t legally required to have multiple escape hatches, especially in the sleeping quarters where folks are particularly vulnerable just waking up from sleep, etc. It’s just common sense that “safety first” should be the mantra.
I’ve been in commercial boats as large as the Conception for harbor cruises and never even thought about whether escaping from below deck would be a problem. No boarding another boat–commercial or private–ever again for me without knowing all about the safety precautions in place.
Absolutely horrifying all around.
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I feel the same way. The place where the bunks were made it almost impossible for everybody to jump out and get out. And, the fact that they had to go through one doorway thru the kitchen was unbelievable. I am made fun of because I am not interested in riding in poorly kept cars on little islands or buses. They don’t have the same safety regulations in other countries. And, it looks like they may not have good safety regulations for boats that sleep people here.
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Modern yachts have escape hatches below decks. I will be interested to see exactly what happened here.
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I heard on FOX tonight that there were two exits and they were evidently both blocked by fire.
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So many unanswered questions. Being below decks on a burning boat is never going to end well. Someone should have been on over watch with so many souls on a small vessel…
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That’s what I thought.
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