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The Dive Boat Conception
🕑 Added 2022-11-22 11:15:01 +0000 UTCHere are a couple of interesting notes on this story, including an extra photo from the NTSB report.
The escape hatch
In the video I show a couple of pictures of the escape hatch on board the Conception - one taken from the passenger bunk room, and one taken from the salon which the hatch exited to.
One photo I didn't have the chance to include was this one:
That's an NTSB investigator attempting to use a similar hatch on board the Vision in the aftermath of the accident. As you can see, it was not only awkwardly situated, but also a very tight squeeze - not something that would be at all viable in an emergency.
Lithium Battery Fires
I did a lot of reading about lithium batteries as part of researching this story... and found a number of stories about them exploding or catching fire on board various means of transport.
For example, here's a report about a phone catching fire on board a Ryanair flight in Barcelona (thankfully while the plane was still on the tarmac).
The danger posed by faulty or damaged lithium batteries is why, with many airlines, batteries have to be carried in your hand luggage. A fire starting in the cargo hold - with nobody there to notice or react to it - could be devastating.
Comments
Fascinating Horror
Now that's an interesting thing. It makes sense, of course. Some things (like lithium batteries) are best kept in view so they can be monitored and taken care of if they malfunction... and some things are best kept as far away as practicable!
Just joined the Patreon so I'm late to the conversation, but the idea of a fire starting in a cargo hold reminds me of the rules I learned when I briefly worked haz at a shipping hub. I never actually loaded the planes, but the rule was that there were two types of haz. I forget the proper titles but what I'll call type A was located right behind the pilots and type B was at the furthest end of the plane, as far away from the pilot as possible. Type A included flammables so the pilots could access the cargo to fight a fire as easily as possible. Type B included radioactive shipments that were better off at a distance even if something was breached. I actually dealt with radioactive materials fairly often as I worked in freight and properly packaged (at least I hope they were properly packaged) radioactive materials tended to exceed weight limits for standard shipping.
Fascinating Horror
It quite surprised me how dangerous lithium batteries can be. The videos of chargers and batteries exploding I've seen online are so dramatic - it's all too easy to imagine that in the confined space of a boat.
Warhorse
I am a southern California diver, this tragedy hit the community HARD. The problem was most likely the cheapo lithium iron battery chargers that do not have a temp sensor. So they keep heating up with no warning or auto shut off. Several other fires like this have occurred, but obviously without loss of life. I have been diving on this boat, it is unfathomable to think of that fateful night. Thank you for another brilliant video.
