Navy Lt. Nicole Murillo with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the survivor revealed that the men were hauling in a net with a large catch in it when the 33-metre boat listed over into the water; the survivor said they knew the situation was dangerous but were unable to get the ship back upright.
“They tried to correct it,” Lt. Murillo said. “But unfortunately the ship capsized and subsequently sunk.”
The fishing boat, the Caledonian, was reported missing by the company that owned it after it failed to return at its appointed time of 10:00 p.m. Saturday night. They alerted the Coast Guard who sent out an aircraft and three rescue vessels.
The Coast Guard also radioed a cruise ship it knew to be in the area and it diverted its course and picked up the lone survivor at 1:30 a.m. He was in a life raft.
It appears the only man to live through the capsizing was the only one of the four crew members wearing a life-jacket when the vessel went over. There are no further details on what happened once the men were pitched into the waters.
The bodies of two of the men were found floating off Vancouver Island early Sunday morning by the Coast Guard. Early in the afternoon a helicopter and a number of fishing vessels were sent to search further and they found the fourth man’s body. All three of the dead are believed to have drowned.
No names have been released.
