yacht sinking victoria

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BC Coroners confirms one fatality after three people rescued from sinking boat near Victoria

The BC Coroners Service has confirmed there was a fourth person on a vessel that sank off of Victoria last Friday and sadly they have passed.

A dramatic rescue operation took place off the coast of Victoria over the weekend, as three individuals and their canine companion were saved from a sinking vessel.

While the story initially came out as good news, it was later learned a fourth person was on the vessel. Unfortunately, that person, a man, died as a result of the incident.

“I can confirm that the BC Coroners Service was notified and is investigating one death resulting from this incident,” Ryan Panton, spokesperson for the BC Coroners Service, said in an email statement to Victoria Buzz.

Panton said no other details could be released due to the early stages of the investigation.

The distress call came in at around 7 p.m., on Friday, June 30th, with the Canadian Coast Guard receiving the urgent message from the vessel.

The 40-foot boat had encountered a perilous situation, taking on water and eventually sinking. Rescue crews located two teenage girls, an adult woman, and a dog in a dinghy.

Fortunately, the US Coast Guard had a helicopter already airborne in the vicinity, allowing for a rapid deployment to the scene.

The aircrew from Port Angeles located a partially submerged dinghy with three individuals and a dog desperately clinging to it. The 13-year-old, 15-year-old, and adult were quickly rescued from the dinghy.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel recued the family dog.

While the trio were not dressed for the conditions, they were wearing life jackets, which played a crucial role in their survival.

Following the rescue, all three individuals were showing severe symptoms of hypothermia and were quickly transported to Victoria General Hospital.

The cause of the man’s death is currently unknown, as well, it’s unclear what caused the boat to sink.

#BREAKING (1/2) Last night around 7 pm, a #USCG aircrew from Port Angeles rescued 2 teenage females and 1 adult woman from a dinghy in the Salish Sea about 2 miles south of Victoria, B.C., The 40-foot vessel they were aboard took on water and quickly sank… pic.twitter.com/DWxWTDg5gj — USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) July 1, 2023

According to the coast guard, the group, from the US, had departed from Seattle but it was unclear where they were heading and what caused the vessel to sink—the vessel was registered in Kenmore, Washington.

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Man dead after yacht sinking near Discovery Island

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One of four people plucked from the ocean after a 40-foot yacht sank south of Discovery Island last Friday is dead, says the B.C. Coroners Service.

Spokesperson Ryan Panton said the coroners service is investigating the incident, which occurred about three nautical miles south of Discovery Island, east of Oak Bay, but could not reveal any additional details.

Three individuals and a dog in a 10-foot dinghy were located by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from Port Angeles, two hours after the initial mayday call was received by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at around 6 p.m. from the pleasure craft.

A fourth person was spotted in the water by a CH-149 Cormorant at around 9 p.m., about one nautical mile from the dinghy in the middle of the yacht’s debris field.

The man, who was “found to be unresponsive upon arrival,” was recovered by a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter crew, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael Clark, adding that all four were U.S. citizens.

Clark said the MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was already airborne for scheduled operations and was diverted for the response.

Multiple sea and air units responded to the mayday call, including two aircraft based out of 19 Wing Comox — a CC-138 Hercules and a CH-149 Cormorant. Marine vessels deployed included the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Cape Calvert and 33 Oak Bay, a coast guard auxiliary vessel.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the dinghy contained two teenage girls and an adult woman who were all showing signs of hypothermia and were airlifted to Victoria General Hospital.

The dog was picked up by a Canadian Coast Guard vessel shortly after.

The yacht, named A Little Serenity, was registered in Kenmore, Washington, a suburb northeast of Seattle.

The U.S. Coast Guard said the sea at the time of the incident was swelling with five-foot waves and windspeeds were at 23 mph.

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One dead after sinking of American yacht off Victoria coast last week - BC

• One person has died after a 40-foot yacht sank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, south of Victoria. The BC Coroners Service is investigating the death.
• Two teenage females and one adult woman were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard from a dinghy associated with the sinking yacht.
• The cause of the yacht sinking and the factors relating to it are still unknown. The rescued individuals were brought to the Victoria General Hospital and showed signs of hypothermia.

Man dead, woman and teens rescued after yacht sinks off Vancouver Island

One man is dead after a 12-metre yacht sank south of Victoria on Friday. Three others were rescued from a dinghy found near the wreckage.

The U.S. Coast Guard initially said three American citizens and a dog were rescued from the sinking vessel about three kilometres south of the capital around 7 p.m. last Friday.

One dead after yacht sinks off the coast of Vancouver Island

A Port Angeles, Wash., crew from the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest responded to the incident

One dead after yacht sinks off the coast of Vancouver Island - Sicamous Eagle Valley News

One person dies after Friday evening yacht rescue: BC Coroner

After four people and a dog were rescued after a yacht started to take on water on June 30, the BC Coroner has now confirmed one of the people died. Three people were rescued from a dinghy two hours after the initial mayday call was received, and a fourth was found in the water about an hour later. The U.S. Coast Guard shared video of them rescuing the three people from the dinghy. (2/2) The women were showing signs of hypothermia and brought t…

One dead after yacht sinks off the coast of Vancouver Island - Penticton Western News

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Two dead, one survivor after B.C. fish boat sinks off Vancouver Island

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VICTORIA — The British Columbia Coroners Service says two people have died after a Canadian fishing boat sank in waters west of Vancouver Island.

The United States Coast Guard says it received a distress call early Tuesday advising the Arctic Fox II was in trouble more than 100 kilometres off the northwestern tip of Washington State.

The 20-metre boat was gone by the time a helicopter reached the scene, but the coast guard says a single crew member was rescued from a lifeboat.

The bodies of the other two crew members, who were both Canadian, have been recovered and the coroners service says they have been flown to Victoria.

The cause of the sinking is undetermined.

U.S. officials say the vessel went down in international waters, but Canada will lead the investigation and American crews will assist if required.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2020

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Looking for answers in whale-boat sinking that killed 5 British citizens

One survivor told rescuers that a sudden wave hit the boat on what was otherwise a calm, clear and sunny day. Five British nationals are dead after the vessel went down off the tourist community of Tofino, on Vancouver Island.

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TOFINO, British Columbia (AP) — Investigators sought to determine what caused a whale watching boat with 27 people on board to sink off Vancouver Island in seemingly calm weather, killing five people and leaving one person missing. A fisherman who helped in the rescue effort offered a clue Monday: a survivor told him that a sudden wave capsized the boat.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed in a statement Monday that the five killed were U.K. nationals. He said consular officials in British Columbia were supporting family members of those who died.

“My thoughts are with the family and friends of all those affected by this terrible accident,” Hammond said.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday said an Australian man was missing. DFAT said it was providing consular assistance to the man’s family.

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Australian Associated Press reported that the 27 year-old Sydney man’s family said he was on the boat with his girlfriend and her family when it sank. His girlfriend’s father was among the five British citizens confirmed dead, AAP said.

The other 21 people on board the Leviathan II were rescued Sunday, some by members of the local aboriginal community who rushed to help.

Officials have not commented on what caused the boat to capsize. A senior employee of Jamie’s Whaling Station, the company operating the boat, said the vessel sank so quickly the crew didn’t have time to issue a mayday call. The boat capsized off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers.

The company’s director of operations, Corene Inouye, said the crew used flares from the water which attracted the attention of local aboriginal fishermen.

Fisherman Clarence Smith said he was reeling his lines for halibut when his friend saw a flare shoot in the sky. In their small boat, they raced to the scene, and saw people in life rafts, in the water, and on rocks. They first helped a man who was clinging to the side of the boat, taking eight minutes to get him on board. He was unresponsive, and tangled in a line.

Then they got two women who were clinging to each other, and finally got 10 people on a life raft onto their boat. Among those who they rescued were a pregnant woman and a woman with a broken leg.

“The lady was saying that a wave just capsized them. That’s why there weren’t any communications on the radio, no mayday,” Smith said.

Government investigators arrived Monday afternoon in Tofino, a remote community of about 2,000 people at the very tip of a peninsula some 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia.

Marc Andre Poisson, Director of Marine Investigations for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, said it’s too early to say what caused the boat to capsize it or what the contributing factors might be. He said the investigation could take months.

Poisson said they will review the weather, wreckage and maintenance history. He said they hadn’t yet spoken to the crew and passengers. He said the vessel has been towed to a nearby island but remains mostly submerged. He said the investigation could take months.

Jamie Bray, the owner of Jamie’s Whaling Station, said he is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened but said he didn’t know the cause.

Bray said the boat sank in an area it goes to every day and said they are all traumatized and in disbelief. He said he’s had minimal contact with the crew.

“This vessel has operated for 20 years with an absolutely perfect safety record. This is something just totally out of the blue,” Bray said. “We just don’t understand and we won’t know the answers until the Transportation Safety Board finishes their investigations.”

He said the passengers are not required to wear life jackets on larger ships like this.

It wasn’t the first fatal accident on the whale watching company’s record. In 1998 one of its vessels capsized during an excursion , sending all four people on board into the water. The operator and a passenger died. Bray said that vessel was struck by a rogue wave but said this incident involved a much larger boat.

The capsized boat, the 20-meter (65-foot) Leviathan II, was partially submerged 8 nautical miles (12 nautical kilometers) west of Tofino.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent an underwater recovery team to search for the missing person, with assistance from the Coast Guard and local search and rescue personnel.

Barbara McLintock, a coroner’s spokeswoman, said four men and one woman died and their ages ranged from 18 to 76. She said two of them were residents of Canada. Their names were not released.

Boats from the nearby Ahoushat First Nation arrived first on the scene, Robert Burridge said. Burridge estimates that every vessel that could be used in the village was in the water searching for missing people.

Canadian Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau thanked all those who participated in the rescue effort and offered his condolences to the victims and their families.

“I know firsthand of this coastal area’s natural beauty and the many people who visit here from all around the world,” said Trudeau, who won Canada’s national election last week. “My thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, the crew, and their families at this most difficult time.”

Sheila Simpson said she was strolling on the dock with her husband when rescue boats roared up carrying survivors from the distressed vessel as well as a man’s body covered by a blanket.

Simpson, who was in Tofino visiting a friend at the local hospital, said she tried to comfort some of the survivors as they stood on the dock awaiting transport to hospital or to their hotels.

“They were in absolute shock,” said Simpson. “You could see it in their eyes.”

Many of the survivors were taken to Tofino General Hospital and some were discharged Sunday night, said Valerie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Tofino’s mayor commended residents for their quick aid in the rescue effort.

“Everybody’s heart is just breaking for what’s going on here and wanting to be as helpful as possible,” Josie Osborne said in a telephone interview late Sunday.

Joe Martin, a member of the Tal-o-qui-aht tribe, was near the dock when rescue boats went out.

The ship was on the far side of Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound, an area that Martin said can get really rough, but was not on Sunday.

“It wasn’t even blowing hard,” he said. “This is the largest boat in Tofino and I was really surprised that it went down.”

Hainsworth contributed from Vancouver. Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Greg Katz in London contributed to this report.

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2 confirmed dead, one rescued after fishing boat sinks off Vancouver Island

Todd Coyne Senior Digital News Producer, CTV News Vancouver

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VICTORIA -- Two men are dead and another man has been rescued after their fishing boat sank off Vancouver Island Tuesday.

The U.S. Coast Guard says one fisherman was found alive in a lifeboat after the 20-metre Arctic Fox II fishing boat began to take on water approximately 137 kilometres off Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point of Washington state, just south of Port Renfrew, B.C.

The Canadian military's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria says two aircraft were dispatched from CFB Comox at approximately 2 a.m. when a mayday signal was received from the vessel.

A CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-115 Buffalo airplane flew to the scene to assist the U.S. Coast Guard after all three people aboard the vessel abandoned ship.

The U.S. Coast Guard deployed a rescue helicopter from Oregon and a surveillance plane from California to search for the missing.

Once on scene, U.S. Coast Guard aircrews immediately spotted a lifeboat with one survivor inside and hoisted him into the helicopter.

The survivor was picked up in Neah Bay, Wash., by the Cormorant helicopter and flown to Victoria.

The fisherman who was rescued reported that the other two fishermen were wearing survival suits when they went overboard.

On Tuesday afternoon, the B.C. Coroners Service confirmed it was investigating at least one death in the incident. The coroner confirmed a second body had been recovered late Tuesday evening.

"Both bodies were flown to Victoria where a coroner took jurisdiction of investigations of two deaths, both involving Canadians," said B.C. Coroners Service spokesperson Andy Watson.

The Arctic Fox II operated out of Cowichan Bay, according to harbour manager Mark Mercer. He says he has known the vessel's skipper, Tom Lindberg, for more than eight years, calling him a very experienced fisherman.

Mercer said the two crewhands on board were young men who showed up just days before the boat set sail. Mercer added that he was surprised anyone aboard survived the sinking, given the weather conditions, which he estimated involved 30-knot winds and nearly three-metre swells.

According to a Transport Canada marine vessel registry, the Arctic Fox II is a wooden boat constructed in Scotland in 1947 and registered in Victoria.

The vessel is owned by Teague Fishing Corporation of Shawnigan Lake, B.C. The company told CTV News it is not commenting on the incident at this time.

WorkSafeBC is investigating the incident.

The Arctic Fox II is shown. (marinetraffic.com)

The U.S. Coast Guard says one fisherman was found in a lifeboat early Tuesday morning after the 20-metre Arctic Fox II fishing boat began to take on water approximately 137 kilometres off Cape Flattery, southwest of Victoria. (marinetraffic.com)

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Relatives of 27 who drowned in Channel boat sinking demand answers

Two years on, families and refugee charities seek explanation and call for more help for refugees wishing to come to UK

The relatives of 27 people who died in the worst mass drowning in the Channel for decades have marked two years since the disaster by issuing an open letter demanding answers over what happened.

Signed together with dozens of refugee NGOs, the letter states that the families still have no explanation as to why French and British authorities failed the people onboard a sinking dinghy who repeatedly called for help .

At least one pregnant woman and three children were among the 27 bodies recovered after the dinghy sank. Four people remain missing.

The letter states: “We will never let the lives lost that night, or those of loved ones lost since, be forgotten. We demand justice and change. We long for people seeking safety on British shores to be seen as human beings, deserving of rights, compassion and dignity.

“Tragedies like this occur because of the ‘othering’ our politicians insist on – of the dehumanising of sons and fathers, mothers and daughters, friends and family members.”

The letter calls for safe routes for all refugees wishing to come to the UK and improved resettlement and refugee family reunion schemes. “That is the only way these tragedies will end,” it says.

An investigation published this month by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), part of the Department for Transport (DfT), into the incident found that there was confusion that night as multiple SOS calls were received, weather conditions were poor and there was a staff shortage in the emergency response team.

The families have not been told when the results of an inquiry into the tragedy, announced after the publication of the MAIB report, will be made public.

The open letter has been coordinated by a coalition of charities in the refugee sector including Calais Appeal, Care4Calais, Freedom from Torture, Refugee Action, the Refugee Council, Safe Passage and the Scottish Refugee Council.

Steve Smith, the chief executive of Care4Calais, said: “Two years on from the largest loss of life in the Channel in decades, no one has taken responsibility for the failure of UK authorities to respond to the desperate calls for help from those on board this tragic boat.

“Justice will not be served until the families have answers, the people responsible are held accountable and our government starts valuing the lives of refugees by providing safe passage.”

Since the mass drowning on 24 November 2021 there have been several others in the Channel, most recently on Wednesday when two people drowned 0.6 miles (1km) off the French coast . More than 27,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.

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Victorian ferry rescues children from boat after fears of fire off Queenscliff

Victorian school students have been rescued from a boat in Port Phillip this morning after its engine started smoking.

Police said 22 passengers, including school students, were in the boat off Queenscliff when a suspected engine bay fire broke out about 8:30am.

A ferry and a Parks Victoria vessel quickly responded a short time later and all passengers were safely evacuated onto the ferry.

Nobody was injured, a police spokesperson said.

A spokesperson from the school, Hamilton and Alexandra College, said a group of year eight and nine students were attending a two-day outdoor education camp in Queenscliff when the incident occurred.

"This morning, 20 students and two staff members were on board a snorkelling boat when the engine stopped working and a small amount of smoke was detected," the spokesperson said.

"As a precautionary measure, action was taken immediately to have all passengers calmly evacuated onto the Queenscliff-Sorrento Ferry."

The owner of the boat escorting the students, James Murphy, said the evacuation of was a standard procedure following a "very minor incident".

"Shortly after departure the skipper noticed a little bit of smoke coming from the engine room, he's then reverted back to our safety management system procedures," Mr Murphy told ABC.

"Part of those procedures is to ensure everybody on board are safe, so [the skipper] has called the local vessel … and they've collected the passengers while he ascertained what the challenge was.

"He was able to get the boat started again, no challenge, and driven it back to the harbour so we're treating it as a very minor incident."

Police said the exact circumstances surrounding the fire were still being investigated, but it was not being treated as suspicious.

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