Nothing will bring back Capt. Matteo Russo and his father-in-law, John Orlando. But the U.S. Coast Guard owes their family members a far more comprehensive answer than the one just released into why Russo's fishing boat, the Patriot, capsized and sank in the early morning hours of Jan. 3, 2009.
The Coast Guard, in a 50-plus page report released last Friday after an 18-month investigation, concluded that the sinking was most likely caused by a combination of mechanical failures, design flaws and possible human error.
Significantly, that report aims to dismiss what the Coast Guard had originally said might have been the cause of what was obviously a sudden sinking โ a possible accident involving the cable of a tug towing a barge that was in the same area of Middle Bank where the two men were fishing.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.