Mounties reach out to military as community seeks recovery of fishing boat

WOODS HARBOUR, N.S. — The RCMP have asked the Defence Department for help as the Mounties face growing pressure from a Nova Scotia community demanding the recovery of a capsized boat that could contain the bodies of five young fishermen.

An RCMP spokesman in Woods Harbour, N.S., said Thursday the Mounties are now waiting for approval from Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Nova Scotia’s representative in the federal cabinet.

But some in the community were not content to wait any longer.

The father of one of the missing fishermen said a private boat with four divers aboard left from the Halifax area to find the capsized 13-metre boat.

“So we’ve decided we don’t want to wait any longer,” George Hopkins said. “This boat could sink. There’s nothing guaranteed and it’s afloat right now, so we’re going to search for it.”

He said other fishermen near his home in Woods Harbour were also getting ready to join the search for the Miss Ally, which flipped over in rough seas Sunday night. One fishing boat, the Lady Faith, left Thursday afternoon from the area.

“We’re not forcing anybody’s hand to do it,” he said in an interview. “I’ve had lots of calls from people wanting to do it.”

Hopkins, whose son Joel was aboard the vessel, said the community can’t wait for the RCMP or the military to take action because the partially submerged boat could sink at any time.

Federal search-and-rescue officials have said it was up to the RCMP to decide what to do because the case was handed to the Mounties when the search for the men was called off Tuesday.

Maj. Martell Thompson, spokesman for the military’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax, said a military aircraft has been dispatched to the area to determine whether the Miss Ally was still afloat.

The military confirmed that the boat’s upturned yellow hull was last spotted by the coast guard on Wednesday afternoon.

Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Sterling Belliveau, a former fisherman who represents the area, said he has approached federal Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield to determine whether a salvage operation is feasible.

Pierre Murray, regional manager of operations for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said a team of investigators arrived in Woods Harbour on Wednesday.