Tag Archives: Life jacket credited for saving man’s life
Life jacket credited for saving man’s life in fish boat tragedy
Before the Caledonian went down, two fishermen clung to the capsized vessel for hours. Only one was wearing a life vest. It saved his life. The unidentified man was the sole survivor when the 33-metre dragger sank to the bottom like a stone Saturday evening, more than six hours after capsizing in chilly waters north of Tofino. His three partners in the ship’s four-member crew — engineer Keith Standing, 48, and deckhand Doug White, 41, of Port Alberni, and 55-year-old skipper Wesley Hegglund of Duncan — died in the waters 55 kilometres west of Estevan Point, near the entrance to Nootka Sound. Notes pieced together from the recollections of the survivor tell a harrowing tale that Joint Rescue Coordination Centre marine rescue co-ordinator Colin Henthorne summarized. It was cloudy; fishermen a few dozen miles away reported two-metre swells. The Caledonian had one “bag” of fish on board. As they brought a second netful, the vessel started to list significantly, finally keeling on its side between 3 or 3:30 p.m. Read the rest here 18:51
