KGMI News
VANCOUVER IS, Canada (CTV) – Canadian regulators investigating the deadly capsizing of a whale watching boat off Vancouver Island are hoping to prevent a similar disaster.
CTV reports investigator Clinton Rebeiro says a large, breaking wave hit the Leviathan 2 in 2015.
“One of the deckhands and most of the passengers were thrown into the water, many of them sliding down the floor of the deck and striking objects along the way. Others were trapped underneath, or even inside the vessel before eventually escaping.”
Six passengers died after the boat overturned.
Rescuers weren’t aware of the capsizing for 45 minutes because the crew didn’t have time to transmit a distress call.
Recommendations include that all commercial passenger boats in open waters carry emergency radio beacons, and they adopt a process to identify hazards like breaking waves.