[Jeff Higgins]

Oh my God... I cannot imagine what they must have gone through. The most "merciful" way to go would to have simply been asphyxiated in their sleep. Anything else would have been the stuff of our worst nightmares.

We used to head out on similar boats to catch the tuna as they migrated by off the Washington coast. A typical day was on board at midnight for a six to eight hour run out to the fish. The boats are identical to this, with the below decks bunks and all of that. I've spent a lot of time in those kinds of bunks.

What struck me then, and strikes me now once again about these boats is the relative lack of egress from those bunks. One way in, one way out, and it's narrow as hell with a very steep "stairway" that's really more of a ladder. If you are claustrophobic at all, it feels very, very confined. Hell, even if you are not, it does.

I cannot believe there is no requirement for emergency escape routes. Or a requirement to have the bunks away from the engine room, or higher up in the boat, or something. It seems that if one had any other options, below decks by the engine room would be last on the list.