Fatigue, Fog Factored in Fatal Washington Fishing Vessel Crash

A new report from Canadian officials says fog, fatigue and an “unfamiliarity with safety issues” factored into a pre-dawn collision between two fishing vessels that left a Port Angeles, Wash., man dead.

The Peninsula Daily News reports that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada released its findings last week into the September 2012 crash.

The 40-foot Maverick, homeported in LaPush, and the 90-foot Viking Storm, out of Vancouver, British Columbia, collided in heavy fog 35 miles west of LaPush.

Three of the four crew members of the Maverick abandoned the sinking vessel and were rescued by the crew of the Viking Storm crew within five minutes. But a fourth crew member, 33-year-old Kelly Dickerson, was trapped in the Maverick.

The report said the Maverick had been drifting overnight without a crew member on lookout duty. Meanwhile, the exhaused mate of the Viking Storm “had not maintained a proper watch” and “left the wheelhouse unattended just prior to the collision.”