Post by ferryfast admin on Mar 23, 2006 0:08:36 GMT -5
BC FERRIES PHOTO
QUEEN OF THE NORTH
Couple feared missing after B.C. ferry sinks
Updated Wed. Mar. 22 2006 11:20 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
www.ctv.ca/
The RCMP has taken over the search for a couple who remain unaccounted for, hours after a ferry sank in the dead of night off B.C.'s rugged Pacific Coast.
So far, 99 passengers and crew have been accounted for, rescued by the heroics of locals from the remote aboriginal community of Hatley Bay, and the efficiency of coast guard crews who launched the rescue in the inky darkness.
But B.C. Ferries have been unable to find two passengers, Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette.
Although officials say passengers reported seeing the couple on land after the rescue, they have yet to be found.
In the meantime, however, the search has been turned over to the RCMP.
There is speculation the couple may have attempted to make their own way back to Prince Rupert.
The 'Queen of the North' went under after it hit a rock off Gil Island in Wright Sound, about 125 kilometres from Prince Rupert.
Capt. Leah Byrne, of the Search and Rescue Centre in Victoria, said many passengers were asleep when the ferry ran aground at 12:43 a.m. local time (3:43 a.m. ET). The vessel sank within an hour.
The 125-metre-long 'Queen of the North' was making the 450-kilometre overnight journey south to Port Hardy from Prince Rupert, through B.C.'s coastal Inside Passage.
Seas were reported to be choppy and winds were blowing at about 75 kilometres per hour.
Lt. Cmdr. Hubert Genest told Canada AM that the ferry ran aground while it was navigating the narrow passage of Wright Sound, which is no more than five kilometres in width .
Nicole Robinson, a receptionist at the nursing station in Hartley Bay, said she talked to several members of the ferry's crew who were sleeping when the ship began to take on water.
"They heard a loud bang like it grinded a bit and they said the cabin started filling with water," she told reporters.
Some people were hurt, but not seriously, said Robinson.
"It took about an hour for the ship to sink so most of the people did manage to get onto lifeboats," Byrne told CTV Newsnet.
"There was an orderly evacuation of personnel from the vessel, including passengers and crew."
Genest said cormorant helicopters from Comox, B.C. assisted in the rescue effort and Byrne said fishing trawlers also responded to the initial call and helped in the rescue.
Many of the 42 crew members and 59 passengers were plucked from lifeboats and taken by local fishing vessels to Hartley Bay, about 630 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Others were hauled onto the 'Sir Wilfrid Laurier,' the coast guard icebreaker which was one of the first rescue vessels on the scene. In Hartley Bay, locals mobilized at the community centre to provide the shaken passengers and crew with blankets, coffee, and hot chocolate.
After daybreak, the passengers who were not being treated at medical clinics were shepherded onto the 'Sir Wilfred Laurier,' to make the three-hour-plus voyage back to Prince Rupert.
The tiny coastal community of Hartley Bay, located about 120 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, is accessible only by air and water.
The coast guard vessel scoured the choppy waters for several hours to ensure all passengers had been accounted for because of apparent discrepancies about the number of people on board.
Earlier reports suggested there may have been 102 people on board, instead of 101.
The rescue of 99 passengers has been described as nothing short of miraculous.
David Hahn, president of B.C. Ferries, praised the crew for the safe evacuation of the 'Queen of the North', which sank after hitting a rock early Wednesday.
"Anytime you have a major incident and you have no one hurt or killed in this type of thing, I think you always think it's a miracle," Hahn told reporters.
"It's unfortunate to lose the ship, but if that's the cost of having nobody really hurt or killed, then fine, I think we'll live with that," he said.
Investigation
Hahn said the hit would have had to have been significant enough to sink the ship so quickly, but he wouldn't speculate on the cause of the disaster.
"It was clearly off course. There's no other way to look at it. The question is, how did it get to be where it was?"
Meanwhile, a "shocked" B.C Premier Gordon Campbell is promising a full and thorough investigation into the incident.
"It's frightening," said Campbell, who travelled to Prince Rupert Wednesday.
"I've heard this morning that some of the passengers were awakened in their nightgowns and I imagine it's pretty darn scary. . . Thank God that we've got all these people apparently safe (but we have to) recognize that these things last for people for some time."
Both Transport Canada and the Transportation Safety Board have been notified of the incident.
B.C. Ferries says family members of passengers and crew aboard the 'Queen of the North' can contact 1-888-223-3779 to enquire about those aboard the ship.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Ferry Operators Association sought to reassure Canadians that the ferry transportation industry is "extremely safe."
"Canadian ferry operators are amongst the best, if not the best in the world," the CFOA said in a written statement.
"Accidents occur in every industry. How we respond to these accidents is vitally important. … The crew's response to today's incident speaks volumes."
History
According to the B.C. Ferries website, the 'Queen of the North' was built in Germany in 1969 and refitted in 2001. It can hold up to 700 people and 115 cars.
The book The Ships of British Columbia says B.C. Ferries bought the 125-metre long boat for $13.8 million in 1974 and named it the 'Queen of Surrey'.
The ferry was retired in 1976 until it was decided to put her on the Queen Charlotte run in 1980. More than $10 million was spent to prepare her for her days as the 'Queen of the North'.
B.C. Ferries hit the headlines in July 2005 when a vessel lost power while docking and smashed into a marina in Horseshoe Bay near Vancouver.
No one was injured but 22 pleasure boats were damaged or destroyed. Investigators believe the ferry lost power as a result of the mechanical failure of an engine speed control device.
And in September 2000, The 'Spirit of Vancouver Island' hit a power boat outside the Swartz Bay ferry terminal near Victoria. Two people on the power boat were killed.
In March 1992, a B.C. Ferries vessel slammed into a Japanese coal freighter shortly after leaving the Tsawwassen ferry terminal south of Vancouver. Seventeen ferry passengers were injured.
And in February 1992, a private Royal Vancouver catamaran passenger ferry collided with a B.C. Ferries vessel in early-morning fog in Active Pass. Some 23 Royal Vancouver passengers were injured.