I spoke to a ferry passenger that I know last night and was told quite an amazing story. She told me of a cew member who was trapped in her room. The ferry started to list to one side, knocking a cabinet into a door, preventing this crew member from escaping. From what I gather, the crew member fought hard and managed to squeak out her door when the water was past her knees.
It seems today that there actually may have been two persons go down with the vessel. That is extremely unfortunate and it is amazing that not more were killed. If the ferry was to capacity, farther away from Hartley Bay or the Coast Guard were not close by it could have been much worse. The passenger that I spoke to said that the lifeboats on one side of the vessel were not able to be used because of the listing.
not to make light of the fact that 2 people may have gone down on the ship.
what is interesting here is what they hit. was it a rock or something else.
the ferry is about 40 years old with a single-compartment structure.
[quote]Coast Guard and BC Ferries’ reports said the Queen of the North had struck rocks, but marine charts show only deep water – up to 270 fathoms deep, more than 400 metres – off the north shore of Gil Island, and a Hartley Bay fisherman said the area poses no obvious shipping hazards.
“These are not difficult waters,” fisherman Stewart McDonald said, adding it was a mystery to him how a ship could run aground on Gil Island. “There are no notorious shoals or rocks there. It’s pretty much straightforward – it’s deep water and it’s wide.”[/quote]
maybe a US sub, or an explosion in the ship. I like my conspiracy theory , but Im sure the reason is that the ferry was way way of course.
First off, I think it’s pathetic that I can find more information about this tragedy from a website in Bulgaria, than anywhere local. Daily News - get with the times and get a website together instead of “for more on this story, susbcribe to the Daily News by blah blah”. The evening news on CHTK recapped everything I saw off of Global’s site at 1:00 in the afternoon. The National had a good story on it, and Global spent a LOT of time on the story. CHTK? Over in 5 minutes. Pathetic.
Second, where are the photos? Where is the dramatic tilt-deck shots of loading lifeboats? Blurred shots of lights ablaze as the old dame slipped under the waves? Pictures taken of froth breaking over the bow of the rescuers as they drove their boats in the dark?
We may be hicks in the bush, but you can’t tell me any of the 101/99 people on the boat or the rescuers didn’t have some sort of camera handy.
And third, a rock? I have locals that tell me that:
a) there’s hazardous rocks off of Gil Island that haven’t been properly marked, and if you’re as much as 50m outside the shippign channel, you’re screwed
b) there’s no dangerous shoals or croppings off Gil Island - she’s deep and open
One couple on board had everything they owned; they were in the process of moving.
Little bit of gallows humor - what was kind of funny was that there were BC Ferry reps on board - the northern BC rep Captain Whatever had his brand-new Chrysler 300 in the car deck when the boat went down.
So, does that mean we can put “Yeah, it’s got a Hemi” on the site marker?
I’m curious to hear the official explaination. The question is, how many weeks will we wait before we hear one. If those two 100 Mile House folks did indeed go down with the boat, then I think the pressure will be a little more signifigant.
If I recall, that couple that were moving were on their way to Port Alberni. He just got his first posting to the RCMP there.
I agree with the coverage aspect but I think that the local tv/radio dont have as much in the way of resources to cover it as well, plus like you say its all over all the other news channels. But they could give it more time for sure. It even made the US news last night.
There was a big CTV mobile truck at the Crest and they had a live report on the CTV news at 11:30 last night from there.
I doubt that any of the spill will be contained in this body of water. Now the residents of Hartley Bay, who responded to this magnificantly, have a major spill right on their front door. This will effect all wildlife in the area, much of it is relied on for sustainance throughout the year. On the bright side I have not heard of any loss of life, human life that is.[/quote]
I think that the spill we be contained much easier here than if it was in the middle of Hecate Strait. I might be wrong but the Islands, I beleive, would help to contain it.
[quote]Alaska offers ferry support to Prince Rupert
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUNEAU, Alaska – Gov. Frank Murkowski on Thursday offered assistance to British Columbia travelers after the Queen of the North ferry sinking near Prince Rupert.
The governor has offered to allow an Alaska Marine Highway System ferry assigned to weekly runs between Bellingham, Wash., and Ketchikan to make stops in Prince Rupert.
Currently, the mainline ferry Matanuska can carry 499 passengers and 88 vehicles. It is assigned to the so-called “Bellingham run.”
Port Hardy, British Columbia, is at the terminus of the Queen of the North route from Prince Rupert. It is already connected to Bellingham by road and shuttle ferry.[/quote]
[quote=“yngwie_69”]Dont alot of people fish there?
For all we know the oil is still in the ferry. They might have to dive down and get it somehow.[/quote]
Mostly it’s diesel fuel to the exclusion of a few hundred gallons of hydraulic oil, etc. It’s not crude oil. I wouldn’t get too worried about diesel fuel, it’s not that big of a deal.
This is proof that the media doesnt know “ANYTHING” that they are talking about… The crew members girlfriend happened to be my sister, and she was also working on the boat, just not in uniform.
[quote=“yngwie_69”]Dont alot of people fish there?
For all we know the oil is still in the ferry. They might have to dive down and get it somehow.[/quote]
Mostly it’s diesel fuel to the exclusion of a few hundred gallons of hydraulic oil, etc. It’s not crude oil. I wouldn’t get too worried about diesel fuel, it’s not that big of a deal.[/quote]
Yeah no doubt… theres that much diesel pumped into the ocean during a fish opening in the summer by all the fishing boats.
