Small town of Tofino came together to prevent even greater tragedy after Leviathan II sank, almost without warning

There was no time even to send out a mayday. The shocked survivors of the whale-watching cruise that claimed the lives of five Britons and probably an Australian off the Canadian coast told their rescuers they could not believe how fast their boat turned over and plunged them into the frigid waters near the rural tourist town of Tofino.



So quickly, in fact, that the stunned owner of the Leviathan II said the skipper did not even get off a distress call. But someone did manage to fire a flare, setting in motion a remarkable rescue effort on Sunday by fishermen and pleasure boats that prevented an even greater tragedy.

The police resumed their search for a 27-year-old Australian man as all five of the British victims were named. They included David Thomas, 50, and his son, Stephen, 18, from Swindon, according to the Swindon Advertiser. Stephen had Down’s syndrome. The Down’s Syndrome Association described his father as a “huge supporter” of the organisation.

It said Stephen was a “very talented young man, and a gifted photographer”. His father worked for Microsoft, which issued a statement expressing sympathy. Quoting Stephen’s brother, Paul, the newspaper said that their mother, Julie, was also on the boat, but survived with minor injuries and was in hospital. He said he was planning to join her in Canada.

The Press Association named two other victims as Jack Slater, 76, and 29-year-old Katie Taylor. The fifth British victim was named as Nigel Francis Hooker, 63, from Southampton.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest UK-born Jack Slater, 76, centre, died when the Leviathan II capsized. Photograph: Facebook

Both were born in the UK but resident in Canada. The missing Australian was from Sydney and was travelling with his girlfriend, who was the daughter of one of the Britons who died. Rescue boats and police divers spent daylight hours on Monday searching for him.

The British consul general in Vancouver, Rupert Potter, is in Tofino to assist survivors who lost relatives. “What always strikes me in these situations is the bravery that people show, and that’s definitely been the case here, how they manage to continue coping when they’ve had such loss,” he said.

Potter, who also visited survivors in hospital, said that several families of the victims were travelling to the town from the UK. He declined to give specific numbers. Potter described the response of the community in Tofino as “really remarkable”.

Whale-watching trips from Tofino, a town of about 2,000 people that relies heavily on the tourist trade, have been suspended while the rescue effort continues. Residents held a gathering in the community hall on Monday evening to mourn the loss of life.

They also clapped and cheered fishermen who led the rescue effort as people marvelled that the remainder of the 24 passengers and three crew survived after the Leviathan II went down about nine miles from the town on Vancouver Island.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A boat carrying divers beside the capsized whale-watching boat. Photograph: Kevin Light/Reuters

The Canadian Transport Safety Board began an investigation on Monday into what sank the 20-metre (65ft) vessel. A view was already taking hold in the town that the boat was hit by a powerful wave after some of the survivors told their rescuers the Leviathan II suddenly tipped although there was also speculation it hit a rock.

Fishermen said the area is known for occasional freak waves. The tourists had been watching sea lions and most did not have time to put on life jackets, although plenty were available, with some survivors grabbed them floating in the sea.

The rescuers said one of the crew fired a flare she found in the water. It was spotted by fishermen from the indigenous Ahousaht First Nation a few miles to the north, who set the radio waves alight with a call for support. Boats immediately joined the rescue.

The radio call was also picked up in Tofino, and boats already at sea headed for the rescue area. Those at the dock soon followed.

Among the first on the scene was Clarence Smith, from the Ahoushat First Nation, who found the vessel mostly underwater with just its bow above the waves. “We saw three people in the water. One guy was clinging to the boat so we picked him first. Then I heard these voices. There were two ladies in the water clinging to each other,” he said. Smith said one of the women was pregnant and another person had a broken leg.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A sea lion jumps around a life raft used on the whale-watching boat Leviathan II, near Tofino. Photograph: Chad Hipolito/AP

The rescuers described people covered in diesel fuel and injured from being thrown against steel bulkheads when the boat turned over. Ken Lucas was working with Smith.

He said that one of the people they rescued was a member of the crew who said the boat was hit by a wave. Fishermen described a heavy swell in the area during the rescue.

Francis Campbell, driving a water taxi, was also among the first to reach capsized vessel, pulling eight survivors from the water. “It’s something you really can’t describe. It’s going to be held with me for the rest of my life,” he said.

The flare was also spotted by Peter Frank. He rescued people clinging to a life raft that had run on to rocks. “There was this one guy saying: ‘My wife, my wife. She doesn’t know how to swim. She isn’t a great swimmer,’” Frank told CBC news. “Some of them, when they hopped on the boat, it was just a sense of relief … I did my best to reassure them, to tell them they’re OK.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flowers and candles left on the government dock. Photograph: Kevin Light/Reuters

About 30 boats responded to the rescue call alongside the Canadian coastguard. But all 21 of the survivors had been picked up by the time the official vessels arrived. They were taken to ambulances waiting on Tofino’s waterfront. The fishermen also brought the dead to shore.

Leviathan II’s owner, Jamie Bray, said he could not believe the boat capsized. “Traumatised would be an appropriate word. Disbelief,” he said. “I think the whole community has experienced the same emotions.”

Bray said the vessel had made the same trip every day for 20 years without incident and that the skipper had 18 years of experience. “We just don’t understand, and we won’t know the answers until the Transportation Safety Board finishes their investigation,” he said.

Later, Bray praised the efforts of his crew to save people in the water. It was the second fatal accident involving one of his boats. In 1998, two people died after a wave knocked them from a much smaller craft.

The survivors of Sunday’s accident were taken to Tofino’s small hospital. But it soon became overwhelmed, so local residents began taking the less serious cases into their homes. Three of the most seriously injured were taken to larger hospitals on Vancouver Island. Tofino’s mayor, Josie Osborne, praised the town’s actions.

“This community’s response has been nothing short of phenomenal,” she said. “People opened their homes to keep the survivors warm and comfort them.”

Canada’s Transport Safety Board has sent in investigators, who said on Tuesday that most of the passengers were on the left side of the top deck when a wave struck the boat’s right side, causing the vessel to tilt and roll over.

Marc-André Poisson, Director of Marine Investigations for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference in Tofino that having so many people on the left side of the boat “raised the centre of gravity”. He said: “We know that most passengers were on the top deck on the port side, that’s the left side of the vessel. This would have raised the center of gravity, affecting the vessel’s stability.

“We also know that the sea conditions were such that a wave approached from the starboard quarter, that’s the right of the vessel. We know that the vessel broached and then capsized.”

He said investigators had interviewed the three crew members and some of the passengers. One life raft deployed and was used, he said. The full investigation is expected to take months.

The disaster has prompted debate in Canada about whether life jackets should be compulsory on tour excursions.

