Captain in Santa Barbara boat fire indicted on manslaughter charges

Indictment accuses Jerry Nehl Boylan of causing deaths of 33 passengers and one crew member in Labor Day weekend boat fire

The captain of a dive boat that caught fire and sank off the California coast in 2019, killing 34 people in one of the state's deadliest maritime disasters, was indicted on Tuesday on federal manslaughter charges, US prosecutors said.

Each of the 34 seaman's manslaughter counts returned against Jerry Nehl Boylan, 67, of Santa Barbara, carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if he is convicted, according to a statement from the US attorney's office in Los Angeles.