No apparent damage to fishing boat that sank near Cape Spear, TSB says
Safety board still considering whether to launch full investigation
A boat carrying four fishermen that sank off the coast of Cape Spear shows no obvious signs of damage, according to the Transportation Safety Board.
The Pop's Pride sank near the men's fishing gear Sept. 7, but investigators say the recovered vessel is giving few clues about what exactly caused the tragedy on the water.
"We haven't found any damage to the vessel as such," said Pierre Murray, manager of the Atlantic region for the TSB. "There was no hole in the hull, or anything in that nature to the vessel."
The sinking of Pop's Pride sparked a huge search and rescue effort near St. John's, with coast guard vessels and fishing boats from the community scouring the water.
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All four fishermen on board were from Shea Heights, and three were members of the same family. Two of those men are still missing, while bodies of the other two men were found the day the boat sank.
Boat found intact
The 6.7-metre fishing boat was found empty, but intact. Murray said its 60-horsepower outboard motor was still attached.
"It's way too early to talk about cause in this particular case. Anything … would be just speculation," Murray said.
The investigation into the sinking is still in its preliminary stages, and Murray said more should be learned in the coming weeks.
However, he says the TSB is still deciding whether to launch a full investigation, which would likely take more than a year.
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Murray said there are about 500 transportation accidents in the Atlantic region alone, and the TSB needs to decide where to respond.
"Obviously we cannot investigate fully those 500 accidents," he said. "So we really have to decide which one we will, and which one would be a better safety payoff for the general public, make things safer," he said.
Any investigation the TSB would launch would be a thorough one, he said, one that would look at the crew, the boat and regulations.
"Finding the cause is one important issue, but … in every investigation there's other issues that come to light," he said.
"It might not have caused this accident, but it could cause other accidents somewhere else."
The search for the remaining two fishermen has been handed to the RCMP.