TSB report on Leviathan II to be released June 14

The Transportation Safety Board’s final report investigating the 2015 fatal capsizing of the Leviathan II will be released in two weeks.

The TSB announced Wednesday it will hold a media conference June 14 to publicly release its report into the Oct. 25, 2015, incident that saw 27 passengers tossed from a 20-metre, whale-watching vessel into the Pacific Ocean near Tofino.

Six people — five Britons and one Australian — died.

No details on the location of the media conference were released, though the TSB did note it plans to live-stream the conference online.

On Oct. 25, 2015, the Leviathan II left Tofino at 1:30 p.m. with 24 passengers and three crew members on-board. Just over two hours later, the boat began taking on water.

In the days immediately following the capsizing, TSB investigators said most passengers and crew were on the top deck of the vessel’s port side when a wave hit the starboard side. The vessel tilted up, rolled and capsized, said the TSB.

Survivors described being thrown into the ocean without life-jackets, grabbing hold of a single life-ring.

Rescuers from the nearby First Nations village of Ahousaht raced to help in boats after seeing a single emergency flare.

In March 2016, the TSB announced its investigators had completed a physical and digital examination of the vessel, and had also reviewed the boat’s inspection and work-order histories. Interviews with the company operating the boat, survivors and relatives had also been completed by early 2016, before the vessel was released to insurers.

Investigator Clinton Rebeiro has been leading the probe.