Survivor of B.C. tragedy says wave capsized ship
TOFINO, B.C.— One of the fishermen first on the scene after a whalewatching ship sank off the west coast of Vancouver Island said a survivor reported that a sudden wave had capsized the boat.
A senior employee of the company operating the boat said the vessel sank so quickly the crew didn’t have time to issue a mayday.
Five people are dead, one person is still missing, and more than 20 are injured in one of the worst marine accidents of the decade.
The tour boat with 24 passengers and three crew members onboard capsized Sunday afternoon about 15 kilometres northwest of Tofino.The 20-metre boat belonged to the local whale-watching outfit Jamie’s Whaling Station.
All five people who died were British nationals. An Australian man is missing and the rest were rescued, some by members of the local aboriginal community who rushed to help.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSBC) is now conducting an investigation into the incident.
“We don’t speculate and it’s much too early to say what the causes and contributing factors of this accident might be,” said Marc-André Poisson, director of investigations for TSBC.
Poisson said the surviving passengers have not been interviewed yet, but will be soon.
Valerie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, said 18 people were brought to the Tofino General Hospital.
Three who were more seriously injured were transferred to other hospitals on Vancouver Island and were in stable condition, Wilson said.
Joe Martin, a member of the Tal-oqui-aht tribe, was near the dock when rescue boats went out.
The ship was on the far side of Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound, an area that Martin said can get really rough, but was not on Sunday.
“It wasn’t even blowing hard,” he said. “This is the largest boat in Tofino and I was really surprised that it went down.”
“We are doing everything we can to assist our passengers and staff through this difficult time,” said company owner Jamie Bray. With files from Robin Levinson King