NTSB finds fishing boat was badly overloaded in 2008 Alaska disaster

The F/V Katmai carried over twice the recommended weight of fish and the watertight doors were unsecured when it sank off the Aleutian Islands in 2008, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in its investigation report.

The NTSB agreed with Coast Guard findings that both factors were the probable causes of the sinking in which seven lives were lost in an extreme storm in the Bering Sea on Oct. 21.

The report relied on the testimony of four survivors who were plucked out of the water by the Coast Guard after 15 hours.

The 73-foot vessel was overloaded with 120,000 pounds of frozen cod while transiting through Amchitka Pass, 120 miles west of Adak. The boat lost steering and began flooding just before midnight.

The captain ordered evacuation and crew piled into two life rafts. Six persons were lost at sea because the rafts flipped around in the towering seas. A seventh person is believed to have gone down with the ship though it is not reported if that person was the captain.

Source: Alaska Public.org