California dive boat captain faces new federal charge in fire that killed 34

A federal grant jury issued a new indictment Tuesday against a dive boat captain, alleging that he acted with gross negligence when a 2019 fire aboard his vessel led to the deaths of 34 people off the Southern California coast.

The new indictment comes more than a month after a judge threw out the original case because it failed to specify that Captain Jerry Boylan acted with gross negligence aboard the Conception during one of the deadliest maritime disasters in recent U.S. history.

Boylan, 68, is again charged with a single count of misconduct or neglect of ship officer, a pre-Civil War statute colloquially known as "seaman's manslaughter" that was designed to hold steamboat captains and crew responsible for maritime disasters. He faces 10 years in prison and is expected to be arraigned in the coming weeks. His federal public defenders did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday.