All six crew members of the Conception were asleep when the scuba diving boat caught fire and sank off the coast of Southern California early on Sept. 2, killing 34 people, according to a federal report released on Thursday.

That finding, by the National Transportation Safety Board, suggests that the crew had failed to uphold a commitment to have someone awake.

“According to its certificate of inspection, the passenger vessel Conception was required to have a roving watch,” said Lisa Novak, a spokeswoman for the United States Coast Guard.

N.T.S.B. investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire and plan to look into regulations governing boats of this type, build and operation, it said in the two-page preliminary report on Thursday. The report describes attempts by five crew members to reach the 33 passengers and another crew member trapped below deck. The five crew members were sleeping on the top of the boat’s three levels, while the passengers and one crew member were asleep on the lowest level, within the hull, according to the report.

Awakened by a noise, one of the crew members alerted the others to fire near the back of the deck on which they slept. The captain then sent out a distress call to the Coast Guard, according to the report.

A ladder connecting that top sun deck to the main deck below was on fire, so the crew members jumped down, one of them breaking a leg in the process, according to the report. From there, they tried to access the salon and galley compartment of the main deck, but were blocked by fire at one end and thick smoke at the other.

The crew tried but failed to open a window and then jumped overboard after being overwhelmed by smoke. The captain and two others swam to a different part of the ship, reboarded, and opened a hatch to the engine room, which was on the same deck as the passengers. Fire blocked doors to the salon, so they boarded a small skiff, picked up the other two crew members in the water and reached a nearby boat named Grape Escape, the report said.

As the captain continued to call for help, two crew members returned to the Conception to search for survivors, but in the end there were none.

In addition to examining the cause of the fire, the N.T.S.B. investigation will also focus on early warning, smoke detection and alarm systems; evacuation routes; training; and policies and procedures.

Jose A. Del Real contributed reporting.

Niraj Chokshi is a general assignment reporter based in New York. Before joining The Times in 2016, he covered state governments for The Washington Post. He has also worked at The Atlantic, National Journal and The Recorder, in San Francisco. @nirajc

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