U.S. Coast Guard officials have announced a virtual formal hearing on the sinking of the fishing vessel Scandies Rose by the U.S. Coast Guard in at the Edmonds Center for the Arts in Edmonds, Washington, from Feb. 22 through March 5.
The 130-foot crab fishing vessel, homeported in Dutch Harbor, sank near Sutwik Island in Alaska at about 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, 2019, with seven crew members aboard.
Two of them were rescued and the other five were never found, despite a search that lasted over 20 hours and covered 1,400 square miles. Four MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crews, two HC-130 Hercules airplane crews, and crew aboard Coast Guard Cutter Mellon participated in the search.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic participation will be limited, but the hearing will be live streamed each day via https://livestream.com/uscginvestigations/events/9427626.
Maritime Commons, the Coast Guard blog for maritime professionals, will provide hearing updates via www.mariners.coastguard.blog and via Twitter @maritimecommons with the hashtag #ScandiesRoseMBI
The hearing is to focus on conditions influencing the vessel prior to and at the time of the sinking, including weather, icing, fisheries, the Scandies Rose’s material condition, owner and operator organizational structures and culture, the regulatory compliance record of the vessel and testimony from survivors and others.
The Coast Guard has established an email address – ScandiesRoseMBI@uscg.mil – for the public and interested parties to provide information, ask questions and make comments related to the ongoing investigation and schedule hearing. This email will be checked regularly and all correspondence will be acknowledged during the hearing and throughout the investigation, Coast Guard officials said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is concurrently conducting an investigation of the sinking of the Scandies Rose and will produce a separate report.
