No apparent damage to fishing boat that sank near Cape Spear, TSB says

A boat carrying four fishermen thatsank off the coast of Cape Spear showsno obvious signs of damage, according to the Transportation Safety Board.

The Pop's Pridesank near the men's fishinggearSept. 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," saidPierre 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, whilebodies of the other two men were found the day the boat sank.

Boat found intact

The 6.7-metrefishing boat was foundempty, but intact.Murray saidits 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, hesays the TSB is still deciding whether to launch a full investigation, which would likely take more than a year.

Safety payoff

Murray saidthere are about 500transportation 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 lookat the crew, the boat and regulations.

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"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.