Unalaska, AK – The Coast Guard is still investigating the cause of the fire that damaged the 286-foot C/P American Dynasty on Wednesday, March 10. It is unknown how or where the fire started but it did affect the engine room and other mechanical portions of the vessel.

Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosely said the ship's crew contacted the Coast Guard around 4 am on Wednesday.

"Upon hearing about the fire, the Coast Guard launched a ready C-130 aircraft out of Anchorage, two helicopters from St. Paul, another from Cold Bay and diverted two Coast Guard Cutters, the Munro and the Alex Haley. Once they heard that the fire had been extinguished, all assets except the Munro were called off and went back to their home base. The Munro continued to sail there and when it arrived it escorted the stricken vessel back to Dutch Harbor."

It took three fire fighting teams made up of crew members three hours to put out the blaze. No one was injured. Then it took four days to get from their location, 57 miles northwest of Cold Bay, back down to Unalaska. The Coast Guard reports 137 crew members were on board. When the ship arrived in Unalaska on Sunday, 87 of them were evacuated from the ship and stayed in an emergency set-up in the conference room at the Grand Aleutian Hotel.

The fire is under investigation. American Seafoods, which owns the vessel, is making temporary repairs to it, so the ship can safely return to Seattle for permanent repairs. The processing workers were reassigned to other ships or sent home.