Fatal boat collision in dense fog off Wash. coast – 40-foot fishing boat Maverick was drifting when it was hit and sunk by the 90-foot fishing boat Viking Storm,
SEATTLE —
The fog was very thick at 4:30 Friday morning 30 miles off the Washington coast where the 40-foot fishing boat Maverick was drifting when it was hit and sunk by the 90-foot fishing boat Viking Storm, the Coast Guard said.
Exactly how the collision happened is the subject of a Coast Guard investigation that will likely take months, but the Maverick went down quickly, and only three of the four people on board survived.
“It was very, very thick fog – visibility about 40-foot,” Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Denning, chief of marine investigation in Seattle, said Monday. “Visibility was certainly an issue.”
The bigger boat hit the smaller boat on the left side toward the front, Denning said.
The missing crewman, Kelly Dickerson, was in a room in the forward part of the ship and the Maverick sank bow first.
“He was trapped,” Denning said.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019316586_apwafishingboatscollide5thldwritethru.html
Horror. My heart goes out to all. BH