Many news reports have the captain telling the coat guard that “they were locked in”. the coast guard tells the captain to “go back and unlock it so they can get out.
Why has this disappeared?
is the captain supposed to lock his guests inside the cabin at night?
Because that's not what happened. It was merely the coast guardsman's interpretation of what was said.
There was a guy on fox yesterday morning who went into great detail about that particular ship and dive boats in general and the only hatch door to down below is not locked......
Given the small size of the hatch door and the difficulty of a large adult to enter thru it, there is no way anybody could have been rescued......let alone make a hasty exit to safety.
The 'locked in' part was the dispatcher, not the captain. So, when the news reports claimed the captain said this, they were mistaken.
Here's a link to the transcript of the mayday call. (See: 'I can't breathe … . there's no escape hatch': Dramatic mayday call from California boat on fire)
Man, around 3:15 a.m.: “Mayday, mayday, mayday! … Conception … north side of Santa Cruz.” (He’s broken up by static.)
Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach dispatcher asks position and number of people on board.
Man: “I can’t breathe.” … (garbled)
Dispatcher: “You have 29 persons on board and you can’t breathe? What is your current GPS position?”
(Another man calls in who heard the distress call and is over by Anacapa Island.)
There’s some garbled space and back-and-forth for a few minutes as dispatchers try to reach anyone from the boat.
A frantic man can be heard:
“Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception! Vessel Conception!” …
Dispatch: “Your vessel is on fire? Is that correct? … Are you on board the Conception?”
Man: “Roger, there’s 33 people that’s on board the vessel that’s on fire. They can’t get off.”
Dispatch: “Roger, are they locked inside the boat? Roger, can you get back on board and unlock the boat, unlock the door so they can get off? Roger, you don’t have any firefighting gear, no fire extinguishers or anything?”
Dispatch: “Roger, is this the captain of the Conception?”
Man: “Roger”
Dispatch: “Was that all the crew that jumped off?”
Man: “Roger”
Dispatch: “Is the vessel fully engulfed now?”
Man: “Roger, and there’s no escape hatch for any of the people on board.”
That was on the call audio. Don't know what they meant, was the forward hatch locked or something.
Hopefully there are tapes of both sides of the conversation, and if not, why not?
I think he was saying “blocked” not “locked”
I am sure someone has told you by now....they were NOT locked in they were BLOCKED in from the fire.