Coast Guard opens probe into fishing boat tragedy

JUNEAU, Alaska (CNN) -- The U.S. Coast Guard Saturday said it has opened an official probe into the sinking of a fishing vessel off the coast of Alaska on April 2 that killed all 15 crew members.

After the Arctic Rose sank in the Bering Strait, Coast Guard cutters, airplanes, and helicopters scoured 2,500 square miles of the turbulent waters for more than 60 hours in a fruitless search for survivors. The searchers had to endure 25-foot seas, and 42-knot winds before calling off the three-day search.

Only the body of Capt. David M. Rundall of Hawaii was recovered.

The Marine Board of Investigation, consisting of three Coast Guard officers, will try to determine what caused the ship to sink. There was no distress call from the ship. An emergency beacon showed the ship sank about 200 miles northwest of St. Paul Island.

"It's the biggest single loss of life on a commercial fishing vessel in the United States in 50 years," said Coast Guard Public Information Officer Dan Dewell in Washington.

The Gudrun went down in the north Atlantic in 1951, also taking 15 lives.

The panel will be conducting hearings in Alaska and Seattle, Washington, but a schedule has yet to be worked out. The board expects to complete its investigation by October.

The National Transportation Safety Board will also investigate the incident and will issue its own report, Dewell said.

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