TSB issues recommendations after Leviathan II disaster
Posted June 14, 2017 10:15 am.
Last Updated June 14, 2017 11:21 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Transportation Safety Board says a large, breaking wave hit a whale-watching vessel off British Columbia’s coast, overturning the boat and dumping passengers and crew into the water in October 2015.
The board makes three recommendations after the fatal capsizing, including that all commercial passenger vessels operated beyond sheltered waters carry emergency radio beacons that indicate their positions.
Six people died in the capsizing of the Leviathan II off the coast of Tofino and 21 other people were rescued.
The board also recommends that passenger vessels across Canada adopt risk-management processes that identify hazards, such as areas known to have large, breaking waves.
The report says search and rescue authorities were not aware of the capsizing for 45 minutes because the crew didn’t have time to transmit a distress call and it was only by chance that they were able to activate a parachute flare, alerting rescuers nearby.
In the days after the capsizing, the board said many passengers were standing on the top deck on one side of the ship when a large wave hit the opposite side, rolling the boat and sending the passengers and crew into the water.
