Twenty-one passengers and three crewmembers aboard a whale-watching vessel were rescued Saturday after their boat began taking on water off the west coast of Vancouver Island.
The 15-metre MV Chinook Princess struck a rock or submerged log near Turret Island, in the Broken Group Islands, at approximately 11 a.m., according to the coast guard and vessel operator Jamie's Whaling Station of Tofino, B.C.
A coast guard lifeboat was dispatched from Bamfield, B.C., while volunteer rescuers from the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue station in Ucluelet, B.C., also joined the rescue effort.
According to Dave Payne, the leader of RCMSAR Station 38 in Ucluelet, three vessels came to the immediate assistance of the Chinook Princess.
The whale-watching boat is equipped with pumps, which kept the vessel afloat until it was towed to shore in Ucluelet for repairs.
"The pumps were keeping up so there was no immediate danger, but of course you’ve got 24, 25 passengers onboard, so they had no option but to call for assistance," said Payne.
He says the vessel had a damaged rudderpost, which made steering difficult.
"They were drifting towards the rocks and there wasn’t much wind, but there was enough," he said. "Given enough time, what is a not-overly-dangerous situation becomes a potential danger to life and limb."
The search leader says it took the three vessels up to three hours to shuttle the occupants of the Chinook Princess to safety.
“The comments all the way around were that it was a textbook solution to the situation and communications and response were spot on," he said. "We all know each other, we all work together, and that makes a huge difference when we have to respond to something like this."
The coast guard said it's also pleased with how the rescue played out.
"On behalf of the Canadian Coast Guard, we would like to thank all the vessels of opportunity who responded and assisted in the rescue of the persons onboard the MV Chinook Princess in coordination with our crew from the Bamfield lifeboat station," said coast guard Supt. Mariah McCooey in a statement Tuesday.
Adam Doolittle, general manager of Jamie's Whaling Station, said there were no injuries reported during the incident.
With files from CTV News Vancouver Island's Gord Kurbis.
