The West Vancouver unit of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue was called out Friday evening to a report of a rapidly sinking five-metre pleasure craft near Bowen Island with four people aboard.
The boaters were about 100 metres offshore, near Snug Cove on Bowen Island, when the boat suddenly began taking on water at a rapid pace. “It was fast and furious,” said Jane Maisonville-Phillips, spokeswoman for the volunteer marine search and rescue organization.
Maisonville-Phillips said the four boaters – two men and two women – put on life jackets and jumped into the ocean as most of the vessel disappeared beneath the water, leaving only the tip of the bow. Another boat in the area got to the people in the water first, hauling them aboard.
The passengers were then transferred to the West Vancouver Coast Guard auxiliary boat.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard hovercraft arrived from Richmond and pumped the water out of the sunken craft. The West Vancouver auxiliary was then able to tow the boat back to Horseshoe Bay.
It hadn’t been determined at press time what caused the boat to sink.
Coxswain Roger Wagstaff said the boaters had a lucky escape.
The accident underlines the importance of maintaining sea worthiness of vessels at all times and having the correct lifesaving and communication equipment onboard and available, Wagstaff added.
