Boat crowded on top deck, hit by wave and rolled
WHALE- WATCHING TRAGEDY
TOFINO — Sightseeing passengers were crowded on the top deck of a whale-watching vessel when it was hit by a wave and then rolled, sending 27 people into the water off Vancouver Island’s west coast, an investigator said.
On Tuesday, Marc-André Poisson, the director of marine investigations with the Transportation Safety Board, released preliminary results of Sunday’s accident that claimed five lives. One passenger is still missing.
“We know that most passengers and crew were on the top deck on the port side … this would have raised the centre of gravity, affecting the vessel’s stability,” he said at a news conference.
“We also know that the sea conditions were such that the wave approached the vessel from the starboard quarter,” he said.
“We know the vessel broached and then capsized.”
But Poisson cautioned: “None of this preliminary information should be used in isolation to draw any conclusions at this point.”
Poisson said investigators will try to recover the electronics on Leviathan II today.
All five people who died were British nationals. The missing man is from Australia.
RCMP divers conducted a second day of searching on Tuesday for the last victim and also filmed the wreck underwater.
The capsizing happened Sunday afternoon at Plover Reefs, near Vargas Island, about 15 kilometres northwest of Tofino.
Rupert Potter, the British consul general based in Vancouver, said earlier in the day the deaths are a tragedy that is resonating around the world.
“It has clearly deeply affected those involved,” he said. “It’s affected the community here in Tofino and it’s affected people back in the U.K.”
Potter shook hands with Premier Christy Clark and expressed his thanks for the support he and the victims’ families have been receiving.
During his stay in Tofino, Potter met with the relatives of those who died.
“Our focus is, of course, the families who have been affected and to provide whatever support we can to help them through this process,” he said.
“The bravery and courage they have shown through what is a difficult time, I find deeply moving.”
Clark said she was horrified and heartbroken when she heard about the capsized boat and she’s proud of the way British Columbians came together to help.
“The Ahousaht First Nation, the people of Tofino, the people who know this coast so well, when there was a crisis, when there were lives at risk, people stepped up and stepped in and saved lives,” Clark said, as she thanked the community.
The premier said the province needs to know what more could have been done.
“That’s part of the reason I’m here, to speak to the emergency responders and members of the community as to where they see gaps, where they need help,” Clark said.
The premier promised to speed up delivery of a helipad for Tofino’s hospital, the only hospital on Vancouver Island without such a facility.
She said the province will offer more search-and-rescue training for those called out to help in marine rescues.
And she said she will encourage Telus to speed up delivery of fibre-optic cellular service to the area.
First Nations leaders in Ahousaht, a small island community that was largely responsible for the rescue of the 21 Leviathan II survivors, have complained that they lack adequate cell service.
“More lives would have been lost if it were not for the Ahousaht First Nation and those who stepped up. … If they want more help and training, we will be there to give that to them,” Clark said.
She said she’s nominating the rescuers from Tofino and Ahousaht as the first recipients of the new provincial citizenship awards program.
The B.C. Coroners Service has identified the five who died: David Thomas, 50, and his son Stephen, 18; Jack Slater, 76; Katie Taylor, 29; and Nigel Hooker, 63.