A fishing boat that sank off the Alaska coast last year most likely lost its rudder, then flooded and went down, killing five crew members, federal safety officials said Wednesday.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the 35-year-old boat did not have internal controls that would have prevented flooding in the so-called rudder room from spreading into other areas of the 189-foot vessel. In a report, the board said uncontrolled flooding was the probable cause of the tragedy, but conceded that much about the ship’s sinking is unknown.
The Alaska Ranger sank in March 2008 in the Bering Sea, west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Five of the boat’s 47 crew members — including the captain, chief engineer and mate — were among the dead.