At least four dead as tour boat sinks in B.C.
TOFINO, B.C.— A harrowing rescue operation off the west coast of Vancouver Island was underway Sunday night where a whale watching boat with 27 aboard board sank, sending those aboard into the water, some to their deaths. Lt.-Cmdr Desmond Craig, a spokesman with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre, said four people were pulled out of the water without vital signs.
Both British Columbia’s Emergency Health Services agency and the mayor of Tofino, Josie Osborne, said at least four people were dead.
“Everybody’s heart is just breaking for what’s going on here and wanting to be as helpful as possible,” Osborne said in a phone interview late Sunday.
Coast guard vessels and search and rescue aircraft were searching for people on the boat who were unaccounted for. The helicopter and aircraft being used in the waters off the community of Tofino had equipment to search in the darkness.
“The Cormorant helicopter has bright lights and the Buffalo aircraft can launch flares, so with that and the vessels on the water . . . that’s enough to cover the area,” Craig said.
Craig could not immediately say how many people on the boat remained unaccounted for.
The rescue centre said the vessel made a mayday call late Sunday afternoon on what was a clear and sunny day in the tourist community.
Boats from the nearby Ahoushat First Nation were the first on the scene, said aboriginal Coun. Tom Campbell. He was on the waterfront and watched as rescue personnel brought several of the survivors ashore.
“Their looks tell the whole story,” he said on the phone from Tofino. “You can’t describe looks on people that are lost. They look totally lost — shocked and lost.”
Campbell, who wasn’t on the water, said his cousin pulled at least eight people from the water into a boat on Sunday afternoon. John Forde who runs The Whale Centre, another whale watching operation in the community, responded to the call for help and was told they were looking for four or five missing people.
“It’s a pretty sad situation when you’re doing a grid pattern to an area hoping to see something,” he said.
Campbell said the First Nation was holding a meeting to discuss launching further rescue operations in the morning.
Brandon Hilbert from Tofino Water Taxi said local companies all pitched in to help in the rescue effort.
The ship that went down was the 20-metre Leviathan II, operated by Jamie’s Whaling Station, Forde said.
The Transportation Safety Board confirmed it was investigating Sunday’s incident.