Two couples on board Leviathan II file lawsuits
Six killed in 2015 tragedy after large wave struck whale-watching boat
A seasick Robert Goodfellow was about to go below on-board the Leviathan II whale-watching boat when a swell rose into a larger wave and struck the starboard side.
The boat heeled to port and rolled violently, throwing many passengers into the sea, according to a lawsuit filed over the tragedy by Goodfellow and his companion, Marya Levin.
Levin slid down the bench seat as the vessel heeled over and the upper-deck railing approached the sea until she was submerged under the water. It was the start of a 45-minute ordeal in which the two North Vancouver residents desperately fought to stay alive, according to the suit filed in the Federal Court of Canada.
Another couple from Edmonton has also filed suit in the court alleging negligence by the firm that operated the vessel that sank off the coast of Vancouver Island on Oct. 25, 2015, killing six.
At least two other survivors have filed lawsuits.
As Goodfellow felt the vessel begin to heel, he turned and looked toward the starboard side and observed the rail rising higher, appearing to be tipping toward him.
“He then fell, striking the portside rail and was suddenly fully submerged for a considerable period of time beneath the sea as the vessel rolled,” said the suit. “Robert and Marya remained submerged below the sea water out of breath and in shock until they were eventually able to see ... light and swam for their life to the surface.”
The pair say they surfaced near the sinking vessel. The suit says Goodfellow was able to grasp a cushion for buoyancy and they were surrounded in oil.
Goodfellow, a fitness trainer, and Levin, a child care provider, say they were forced to kick hard away from the vessel, while clutching the cushion, toward the rocks, but the sea conditions were rough and dangerous.
“A life-jacket was floating near the wave break on the rocks and Marya reached over a passenger’s body to grasp it and the plaintiffs swam away from the rocks and breaking waves.” The two swam through the rough conditions to a life-raft about 100 metres away.
In a suit filed by Ian Charles and Jill Zaparyniuk of Edmonton, Charles says he was seasick and remained in a lower cabin while his wife proceeded up the stairs to the main deck when the swell hit the vessel.
Zaparyniuk says she suddenly felt the immense weight and pressure of sea water crushing her against the ship’s railing until she was fully submerged.
She remained in contact with the ship’s rail, but was submerged until she ran out of air and was forced to let go and swim up, ultimately coming to the surface inside the vessel. Zaparyniuk, a registered nurse, swam through the stairwell passage into the lower cabin to find Charles and other passengers apparently in shock and standing in shoulder-deep water, the suit says.
The suit names several defendants, including Jamie’s Whaling Station Ltd. A Vancouver law firm acting for Jamie’s Whaling Station released a statement Wednesday saying that the two new suits aren’t a surprise. In May, Jamie’s Whaling Station filed a response to a similar suit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, saying the sinking of the vessel was an “Act of God” that couldn’t have been reasonably predicted nor prevented.