ANCHORAGE — A Coast Guard panel investigating the Alaska grounding of a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill barge focused questions Tuesday on a key piece of tow line gear that has not been recovered.

Investigators quizzed a Shell contractor on the condition of a metal shackle in the tow line that connected the Kulluk, a 266-foot diameter barge, to its towing vessel, the Aiviq. When the tow line broke Dec. 27, the shackle was missing and presumed to be on the bottom of the Gulf of Alaska.

ANCHORAGE — A man has been charged with beating an Alaska couple to death and the sexual assault of their 2-year-old great-granddaughter.

Anchorage police said the man was arrested Saturday night as he fled the east Anchorage homicide scene dressed only in boxer shorts and socks Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz says the suspect is 24-year-old Jerry Andrew Active.He’s being held without bail at the Anchorage Jail on charges of first and second-degree murder, sexual assault and burglary in the deaths of Sorn Sreap, 71, and his wife, Touch Chea, 73.

ANCHORAGE — A towing plan for a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill barge crossing the Gulf of Alaska in December called for moving the vessel to a protected bay or heading for deep water if an extreme storm hit, the official who approved the plan said Tuesday.

Norman “Buddy” Custard, the Shell Alaska operations manager for the tow, said the company reviewed historic storm data and gave the go-ahead for the 18- to 24-day voyage in mid-December despite having a weather forecast out only 72 hours.

ANCHORAGE — The U.S. Coast Guard will kick off hearings Monday on how a Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill barge used for Arctic Ocean exploratory drilling ended up aground off a remote Alaska island.

The Kulluk was under tow and bound from the Aleutian Islands’ Dutch Harbor to a Seattle shipyard when it ran into rough Gulf of Alaska water. It broke from its towing vessel, and after four days of futile attempted hookups, ran aground New Year’s Eve in shallow water off Sitkalidak Island, near Kodiak Island.