http://www.theprovince.com/news/thr...at+sinks+vancouver+island/11344873/story.html
Three fishermen dead after boat sinks off Vancouver Island
By Dan Fumano, The Province September 7, 2015
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada identified the vessel as the Caledonian. It remains unclear why it capsized and sank.
Photograph by: Eric Sorenson , MarineTraffic.com
A commercial fishing boat sank Saturday off the west coast of Vancouver Island, killing three of the four crew members.
The boat capsized and sank in the ocean about 55 kilometres west of Estevan Point, north of Tofino, said navy Lt. Nicole Murillo with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.
The Coast Guard was called out around 10 p.m. Saturday. Two men were discovered Sunday morning and confirmed dead, said Murillo, while the search continued into Sunday afternoon for a missing third crew member.
The missing man’s dead body was spotted by a helicopter and recovered around 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, Murillo said.
Three Coast Guard vessels and a helicopter were searching for him, with several other fishing vessels in the area also trying to help, said Coast Guard spokesman Dan Bate.
A fourth crew member, the sole survivor, was rescued around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. He was taken aboard the MS Statendam, a Holland America cruise ship in the area bound for Victoria, and he was treated for mild hypothermia, said Bate. The rescued man was wearing a personal flotation device, he said.
Early indications suggested that the three men who died were not wearing life jackets, Murillo said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada identified the vessel as the Caledonian.
A spokesman for Pacific Seafood, the U.S.-based company that owns the boat, told The Province the incident was a “a terrible tragedy for our entire Pacific Seafood family and our community.”
Daniel Occhipinti, general counsel for Pacific Seafood, said: “We thank God for saving one of our crew, but we are devastated by the loss of our other crewmen. Right now we are focused on our people and their families. We do not yet know what caused this tragedy, but we will do a full investigation to find out what happened.”
“We appreciate everything the Canadian Coast Guard has done to help rescue and search for our crew,” he said. “Please pray for the families who lost a loved one.”
The Transportation Safety Board is deploying an investigator to the scene to obtain further information about the incident, said TSB spokesman Chris Krepski.
“Loss of life on fishing vessels is something that we are concerned with as a board,” Krepski said, adding that the issue is one of eight highlighted on the TSB’s watch list.
The watch list is a public record of the “issues posing the greatest risk to Canada’s transportation system,” according to the TSB website.
“The eight issues on this list are supported by hundreds of investigation reports, safety concerns, and Board recommendations. In each case, the TSB has determined that action taken to date is insufficient and more needs to be done to eliminate the risks,” the website reads.
Coast Guard spokesman Bate said: “These are folks out on the water that are doing their job, and obviously it’s a tragic ending to a day working at sea.”
A commercial vessel sinking in B.C. waters with multiple fatalities is “a rare occurrence,” Bate said. But he said this weekend’s incident was similar in some respects to the 2004 sinking of the Hope Bay, a 22-metre fishing boat that capsized and sank in Queen Charlotte Sound north of Vancouver Island, killing three crew members.
It was not immediately clear what caused the Caledonian to capsize and sink, but Murillo said after further investigation, it's believed the men were bringing in a fishing net when the boat began to list.
Strong winds were recorded Saturday evening in the area where the boat was fishing, said Environment Canada meteorologist Louis Kohanyi. Winds from the southeast reached 30 to 50 km per hour, which is considered strong, Kohanyi said, but below the level of a gale warning.
— with a file from The Canadian Press
dfumano@theprovince.com
twitter.com/fumano
© Copyright (c) The Province
