Divers search for missing passenger after whale-watching boat sinks, killing 5

TOFINO, British Columbia – Five British nationals died when a whale watching boat with 27 people on board sank off Vancouver Island, the British Foreign Minister said Monday. An Australian man was missing and the rest were rescued, some by members of the local aboriginal community who rushed to help.

Officials have not commented on the cause of the crash.

But one of the fishermen first on the scene said a survivor reported that a sudden wave had capsized the boat. A senior employee of the company operating the boat said the vessel sank so quickly the crew didn’t have time to issue a mayday. The capsizing occurred off Tofino, a popular destination for whale watchers.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed in a statement that the five killed were U.K. nationals. He said consular officials in British Columbia were supporting family members of those who died. Barbara McLintock, a coroner’s spokeswoman, said four men and one woman died and their ages ranged from 18 to 76.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Tuesday confirmed in a statement that an Australian man was missing.

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.

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 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 which operates the boat, 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 65-foot Leviathan II, was partially submerged 8 nautical mileswest of Tofino.