Investigators are trying to determine what caused a whale-watching boat to capsize Sunday afternoon off the coast of Vancouver Island, killing five of the 27 passengers and crew who were tossed into the frigid water.
Rescuers pulled 21 survivors out of the water and all were taken to hospital. Three remain in serious condition.
B.C.’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said five bodies were also recovered and another person remains missing. None of the victims' identities has been released.
The Leviathan II cruiser vessel made a mayday call shortly after 4 p.m. local time, prompting nearby residents and search-and-rescue workers to rush to the scene to help.
The JRCC in Victoria dispatched a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant helicopter and an RCAF Buffalo aircraft, while the Canadian Coast Guard sent out four fast-rescue craft.
The search for survivors continued throughout the evening, but was called off overnight.
It remains unclear what caused the 20-metre vessel carrying 24 passengers and three crew to capsize. The boat was on the far side of Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound, an area were the waters can become rough. But local residents say while it had been raining lightly earlier in the day, the weather was mostly clear when the capsizing happened.
CTV Vancouver Island’s Gord Kurbis says the waters near Tofino are rarely calm, but he says it wasn’t particularly stormy when the accident occurred.
“One thing that people around Tofino will tell you is that the tides here can be very unforgiving,” he told CTV’s Canada AM Monday morning.
He said the vessel went down in an area called near Plover Reefs, which is popular with whale-watching vessels because there’s a lot of marine life there.
“One of the theories is the vessel struck one of the rocks near the area and that’s when people were tossed in the water,” he said.
The Leviathan II was operated by Jamie’s Whaling Station, which Kurbis said was one of the larger whale-watching operations in the area. But he said it’s a small tight-knit community in Tofino and the accident will affect the whole tourism industry.
“Even though it was that one company that was affected, all of them are feeling the pain of what’s gone on here,” he said.
Jamie’s Whaling Station released a statement late Sunday to say they will be cooperating with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigators, to determine what happened.
“It has been a tragic day,” their statement read. “Our entire team is heartbroken over this incident and our hearts go out to the families, friends and loved ones of everyone involved.”
They also thanked the first responders, rescue personnel, and the residents from Tofino and the local First Nations communities who assisted with the rescue.
Chris McLellan, who lives nearby, told CTV News Channel that other whale-watching tour boats as well as residents from the nearby Ahousaht First Nation were the first to respond to the mayday call.
"Everyone just converged when they heard on the radio what was happening," said McLellan.
Sheila Simpson was strolling on the Tofino dock with her husband when rescue boats roared up carrying people from the whale-watching vessel. She told the Canadian Press she managed to comfort some of the survivors as they stood on the dock awaiting transport to hospital.
"They were in absolute shock," she said. "You could see it in their eyes. ‘This didn't happen. We came on a holiday’."
Alec Dick , the emergency coordinator for the Ahousaht First Nation, told CTV News Vancouver that he was surprised to hear of a 20-metre vessel capsizing, saying that in all his years of responding to marine emergencies, he had never heard of a boat that big being flipped over.
Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne told CTV’s News Channel Sunday that a similar tragedy with a whale watching boat happened nearly two decades ago.
"It does happen in a coastal community," Osborne said. "It’s a beautiful, stunning environment but not without its risks."
0 comments:
Post a Comment