CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - Fifteen people were rescued from a sinking vessel at the mouth of the Charlottetown Harbour on Wednesday night.
Tim Mayme, deputy fire chief with the Charlottetown Fire Department, said the call came in at 8 p.m.
“We had a call last night at 8 p.m. that there was a boat capsized at the mouth of the harbour towards the (Fort) Amherst area so we responded,’’ Mayme said. “We had to launch our fast rescue craft.’’
Mayme said as the fire department was proceeding toward the scene they passed a naval vessel that had all of the people from the stricken boat in it.
“One casualty was transported to hospital with a case of mild hypothermia.’’
As for the boat itself, when firefighters arrived the vessel was 80 per cent submerged and going down.
“RCMP was on scene and they were doing the investigation with the owner of the vessel. Our response was for the search and rescue of the stricken vessel. When we got to the scene we basically just confirmed that everybody was, in fact, removed from the vessel that was submerged.’’
Firefighters marked the site of the boat sinking with a device that warned other boat traffic in the area.
Mayme estimated the vessel was about 35 feet in size.
Lt.-Cmdr. Jordan Holder, senior public affairs officer with the navy’s Maritime Forces Atlantic, said sailors from the HMCS Queen Charlotte were the first to respond and arrived to find 15 people who were stranded in the water, some of whom wre clinging to the sinking boat.
“The sailors were in the vicinity of the Charlottetown Harbour conducting small boat training when they were alerted to the boat in distress by civilians who were ashore and they immediately went to the mouth of the harbour to render assistance,’’ Holder said.
The navy also dispatched a Hercules aircraft from 413 Squadron in Halifax, the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir William Alexander and a local lifeboat but all were stood down once the report came in that the HMCS Queen Charlotte vessel had secured all 15 stranded passengers aboard the sinking pleasure craft.
Lt. Cmdr. Rob Alain, commanding officer of HMCS Queen Charlotte, said they had three small boats out on training exercises Wednesday night when people along the shore flagged one of them down and informed the crew that there was a vessel going down and people in the water.
“The boat coxswain and his crew went over to investigate and when they got on scene they found six people in the water and another nine clinging to the vessel,’’ Alain said. “They immediately went into action to get the first six people out of the water onto our rib rigged hull inflatable boat and then the boat coxswain made the decision to also embark the other nine.’’
Alain said he didn’t know if any other boats were coming to the scene so the decision was made to get everyone on the small naval vessel.
HMCS Queen Charlotte crew members also gave up their floater jackets in an effort to warm people who had been in the water. The water temperature at the time of the rescue was a mere 4 degrees Celsius and they had been in the water at least 20 minutes.
Alain said members of HMCS Queen Charlotte train for situations just like this one.
“They totally understand the importance of being proficient on small boats and it made a difference last night. It saved lives.’’
RCMP Staff Sgt. Kevin Baillie said the owner of the boat that sank is from Charlottetown but wouldn’t release a name.
“At this point we do not know what caused the boat to get into distress,’’ Baillie said. “The owner and occupants were not able to pinpoint a cause. Possible causes include a failure of some type that allowed the boat to take on water, a combination of wind, waves (and) tide or striking an object in the water. None of these are apparent as the cause at this time.’’
Baillie said the stricken vessel was partially raised Thursday with lifting bags and secured in place until it can be removed from the water. Once the boat is out of the water, he said an examination may reveal the cause.
The Canadian Coast Guard is also investigating.
