Arctic Rose Sinking Blamed on Open Door

Simply keeping a back door closed would likely have saved the Arctic Rose, a fishing vessel that sank in the Bering Sea nearly three years ago, killing all 15 people on board, a Coast Guard report concluded.

But the ill-trained, inexperienced crew frequently tied the door open to let fresh air into the boat’s fish-processing area, investigators said.

Most likely, that door was open early on the morning of April 2, 2001, and 20-foot waves began crashing through it. The water flowed through another open door into the galley, then down another hatch into the engine room, and within about four minutes, the Arctic Rose was gone -- the worst U.S. fishing disaster in 50 years.