Coast Guard issues report on deadly Alaska crab boat sinking

SEATTLE (AP) – A U.S. Coast Guard report blames a crab boat’s owner and captain for a fatal 2017 voyage in the Bering Sea.

The Seattle-based fishing vessel Destination went missing Feb. 11, 2017 off a remote Alaska island. The bodies of its six crew members have not been found. It was the worst Alaska crab-boat disaster in more than a decade.

The Seattle Times reports the 138-page document was made public Sunday after a private Saturday meeting that Coast Guard officials scheduled in Seattle for the families of the lost crew.

The report’s conclusions include overloading, heavy ice and an open hatch that would have allowed rapid flooding. The report says the vessel started to capsize within a matter of minutes, leaving the crew very little time to react.