ISTANBUL (AP) — A fire that spread through an Istanbul nightclub during renovations, killing 29 people, was likely caused by welding sparks igniting combustible material, a newspaper reported Wednesday, citing fire department officials.
The fire engulfed the popular Masquerade nightclub on Tuesday, trapping workers and club employees inside. It left 29 people dead and another person with serious injuries.
Authorities have detained nine people for questioning, including club managers and people in charge of the renovation work.
The club, which was closed for renovations during the holy month of Ramadan, was located on the ground and basement floors of a 16-story residential building in the Besiktas district on the European side of the city bisected by the Bosphorus Strait. It had planned to reopen on April 10.
Gov. Davut Gul told reporters that the cause of the fire was under investigation. The government assigned prosecutors and investigators to probe the incident.
The Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, said the fire is believed to have been caused by sparks from a welding machine being used to install sound insulation and decoration material. It reportedly set off an explosion which in turn set other construction material ablaze.
The newspaper cited unidentified fire department officials in its report. The Sabah newspaper published a similar report. Officials have not publicly commented on the fire's cause.
HaberTurk television reported that the area where the renovation work was taking place was like a “labyrinth,” making it difficult for the victims to find their way out.
The victims included Gokhan Tevlek, a club DJ, Atanur Aladag, who was employed as a cook, and Akin and Yilmaz Kihri, a father-and-son team of welders, according to Turkish media reports.
Video from the scene showed flames billowing from the side of the building, firefighters dousing an entrance to the club and people carrying a victim on a stretcher toward an ambulance.
“After the fire brigade arrived, bodies started to come out of the nightclub,” state-run Anadolu quoted witness Sema Soganci as saying. “People were screaming, everything happened so suddenly. The flames were like crazy.”
“I started to cry, I was nervous,” she said.
Another witness, Mehmet Cengiz, told Anadolu, “We saw firefighters entering and coming out all blackened.”
The nightclub had a capacity of 4,000 guests, according to its website. The manager of the residential building told reporters Wednesday that the premise was originally designed as a cinema.
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu said the club had not obtained the required permits to conduct renovations.
Firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire that broke out during day time in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. A fire at an Istanbul nightclub during renovations on Tuesday killed at least 29 people, officials and reports said. Several people, including managers of the club, were detained for questioning. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Firefighters work in the aftermath of a fire in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. A fire at an Istanbul nightclub during renovations on Tuesday killed at least 29 people, officials and reports said. Several people, including managers of the club, were detained for questioning. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Two women gather as firefighters and emergency teams work in the aftermath of a fire in a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, Tuesday, April 2, 2024. A fire at an Istanbul nightclub during renovations on Tuesday killed at least 29 people, officials and reports said. Several people, including managers of the club, were detained for questioning. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A scuba dive boat captain was scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday on a conviction of criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel nearly five years ago.
The Sept. 2, 2019, blaze was the deadliest maritime disaster in recent U.S. history, and prompted changes to maritime regulations, congressional reform and several ongoing lawsuits.
Captain Jerry Boylan was found guilty of one count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer last year. The charge is a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as seaman’s manslaughter that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters.
Boylan’s appeal is ongoing. He faces up to 10 years behind bars.
The defense is asking the judge to sentence Boylan to a five-year probationary sentence, with three years to be served under house arrest.
“While the loss of life here is staggering, there can be no dispute that Mr. Boylan did not intend for anyone to die," his attorneys wrote in a sentencing memo. “Indeed, Mr. Boylan lives with significant grief, remorse, and trauma as a result of the deaths of his passengers and crew.”
The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Santa Barbara, when it caught fire before dawn on the final day of a three-day excursion, sinking less than 100 feet (30 meters) from shore.
Thirty-three passengers and a crew member died, trapped in a bunkroom below deck. Among the dead were the deckhand, who had landed her dream job; an environmental scientist who conducted research in Antarctica; a globe-trotting couple; a Singaporean data scientist; and a family of three sisters, their father and his wife.
Boylan was the first to abandon ship and jump overboard. Four crew members who joined him also survived.
Thursday's sentencing — unless Boylan’s appeal succeeds — is the final step in a fraught prosecution that’s lasted nearly five years and repeatedly frustrated the victims’ families.
A grand jury in 2020 initially indicted Boylan on 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, meaning he could have faced a total of 340 years behind bars. Boylan’s attorneys argued the deaths were the result of a single incident and not separate crimes, so prosecutors got a superseding indictment charging Boylan with only one count.
In 2022, U.S. District Judge George Wu dismissed the superseding indictment, saying it failed to specify that Boylan acted with gross negligence. Prosecutors were then forced to go before a grand jury again.
Although the exact cause of the blaze aboard the Conception remains undetermined, the prosecutors and defense sought to assign blame throughout the 10-day trial last year.
The government said Boylan failed to post the required roving night watch and never properly trained his crew in firefighting. The lack of the roving watch meant the fire was able to spread undetected across the 75-foot (23-meter) boat.
But Boylan’s attorneys sought to pin blame on Glen Fritzler, who with his wife owns Truth Aquatics Inc., which operated the Conception and two other scuba dive boats, often around the Channel Islands. They argued that Fritzler was responsible for failing to train the crew in firefighting and other safety measures, as well as creating a lax seafaring culture they called “the Fritzler way,” in which no captain who worked for him posted a roving watch.
The Fritzlers have not spoken publicly about the tragedy since an interview with a local TV station a few days after the fire. Their attorneys have never responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
With the conclusion of the criminal case, attention now turns to several ongoing lawsuits.
Three days after the fire, Truth Aquatics filed suit under a pre-Civil War provision of maritime law that allows it to limit its liability to the value of the remains of the boat, which was a total loss. The time-tested legal maneuver has been successfully employed by the owners of the Titanic and other vessels, and requires the Fritzlers to show they were not at fault.
That case is pending, as well as others filed by victims’ families against the Coast Guard for what they allege was lax enforcement of the roving watch requirement.
FILE - A photo collage of the 34 victims of the Sept. 2, 2019 fire aboard the dive boat Conception, at Santa Cruz Island, is held by a family member arriving at federal court in Los Angeles, Oct. 25, 2023. The captain of the boat is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - Barbara Chan, whose brother Raymond "Scott" Chan was among the 34 victims of a fire on the scuba dive boat Conception, holds up a photo of the victims, Oct. 24, 2023, in Los Angeles. The captain of the boat is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun, File)
FILE - Defendant Jerry Boylan, captain of the Conception, right, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. The scuba dive boat captain is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel nearly five years ago. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
FILE - In this photo provided by the Ventura County Fire Department, VCFD firefighters respond to a fire aboard the Conception dive boat fire in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of Southern California on Sept. 2, 2019. A scuba dive boat captain is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge Thursday, May 2, 2024, on a conviction of criminal negligence after 34 people died in the fire aboard the vessel nearly five years ago. (Ventura County Fire Department via AP, File)
