The company that owns a scuba dive boat that caught fire and sank off California, killing 34 people, has sought to avoid liability by invoking a 19th-century law that has shielded vessel owners from costly disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic.
Federal investigators have interviewed the only survivors from the fire aboard the Conception, the captain, and four crew members, as well as Glen Fritzler, whose Truth Aquatics Inc. owns and operates the vessel.
