Five Dead After Whale Watching Boat Sinks.

[Jim Brady]

I see the five people who lost their lives were British,condolences to their family.
Regards.
Jim.B.

Five Britons Dead In Canadian Boat Tragedy

[John Arton]

This occurred off Tofino Beach on the west coast of Vancouver, a lovely place for a picnic.
Back in the late 60's it was full of young American draft dodgers.
I was cadet on a forest product carrier and one weekend our girlfriends decided we should all go up to Tofino for a picnic (no weekend cargo work in those days), so a gang of us plus cases of ale jumped into their cars and off we went. When we got there, there was a sign pointing out the "Baked crab was for sale" so we followed the track and came upon a small building surrounded by a bunch of hells angels. Warily walking past them we entered the shop selling these freshly baked crabs to be met by two little old dears of about 70 years age, who despite having lived in Canada for most of their lives, still talked with that plummy old English voice.
They baked the crabs on stone and they were massive and tasted absolutely great. We asked them if they were not nervous living so far out in the wilds surrounded by a bunch of evil looking hells angels to which they replied that "they are our boys and look after us". Leaving the store we passed through them and were greeted with "hallo mate, enjoy your crab meal" which coming from the mouths of tattooed and oil stained hells angels was one of those strange encounters you often got when ashore inn foreign climes.
rgds
JA

[Dennis McGuckin]

Yes Brian it is very tragic.
Why they were out in the open Pacific at this time I don't know.
I sure would not risk it, as I have fished off that coast for years.
Believe a rouge wave got them.
Just a small correction. Tofino is on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
I'm sure you knew that.
It is still a haven for the tree huggers/hippies.
Storm watching during winter months is a big tourist attraction.
This is the second fatal accident for this company in the past few years.

[Rodney Mills]

Dennis,

Our first news said it was a commercial boat on a whale watching cruise.

Rodney

[Dennis McGuckin]

Yes Rodney.
It was a charter boat, for the specific purpose of watching marine and wild life.
My apologies if my post suggested otherwise.

[Dennis McGuckin]

On tonight's news.
Passengers were requested NOT to wear floatation devices while on board, as this would hamper any emergence in abandoning ship.
In my opinion. They would need full survival suits to last for any length of time in that water..
Survival suits are mandatory on open zodiac whale watching boats.
Hypothermia is the big killer.
Just in. Five dead.. Four men one woman. RCMP dive team have spent the day looking for one missing passenger.So far no luck.
Local natives did an outstanding job regarding rescue.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi Den.
It was tragic to see that boat down by the stern in that kind of water. We had just come back from a whale watching beach trip on the South coast of NSW, I don't think I would go out in one of the boats, to many land lubbers who don't realize what the sea can do.
Cheers Des

[John Pruden]

tragic one of the worlds greatest sights turns into the last sight the victims had so sad.. jp

[Dennis McGuckin]

This mornings news.
Search continues for missing Australian.
Whale watching federation supports the boat owners safety record.
Several years ago. The skipper and one passenger were lost.

[John Arton]

Latest on the news here, all the U.K. citizens who died have been identified.
Latest reason for sudden capsize is that all passengers were up on the top deck which made for an unstable boat and rogue wave hitting top heavy boat caused it to capsize.
rgds
JA