Whale Watching Boat Sinks near Vancouver Island

Emergency services said 21 people have been rescued and taken to hospital. The area where the boat sank was a popular site to view sea lions.

The company issued a statement saying it was a tragic day and its entire team was heartbroken.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed in a statement that the five killed were United Kingdom nationals.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “Following the incident in Tofino on October 25, we are urgently seeking information from the local authorities and stand ready to provide consular support to any British nationals involved”.

Mr Campbell said his cousin pulled at least eight people from the water into a rescue boat.

A woman pays her condolences from the dock to passengers of a capsized whale watching boat in Tofino.

Tofino is also known as a good spot to watch storms roll in, especially in the winter months, but local resident Chris McLellan said it was a calm day on the water on Sunday.

“You could see the smaller boats going back and forth to try and help bring people back to shore”, Rami Touffaha told the CBC. They look totally lost – shocked and lost, ” he told the Associated Press. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has confirmed it is investigating the incident. “There were four people recovered without vital signs”, he said. He said he had no idea how it could’ve sunk.

The whale-watching ship Leviathan II has length of 20.00 m and used by Jamie’s Whaling Station and Adventure Centres to take tourists on nature cruises around Clayoquot Sound. Two people died in March 1998 when the company’s boat Ocean Thunder was swamped by an unexpected wave in the same waters, Plover Reefs.

Harris says Jamie’s Whaling Station is not a member of his association.

A military rescue helicopter and plane had been sent to the waters off the coast of Tofino after the vessel sent a distress signal around 5 p.m. local time, according to the JRCC.

“Culturally, when things like this happen, we know they need to debrief, and let a few of it go, if they can”.

A few survivors have been discharged after being briefly treated in hospital.

This is not the first fatality on the whale watching company’s record.

Canada’s Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau said his “thoughts and prayers are with the passengers, the crew, and their families at this most hard time”. The operator and a passenger died.