BC Ferries QUEEN OF THE NORTH sinks

[Marc Piché]

BC Ferries ferry QUEEN OF THE NORTH sank this morning (01.00 hrs Pacific Time) some 70 miles south of Prince Rupert, BC, on her regular scheduled run. Rescue operations are still on going but it appears that there are no fatalities to report although some people were slightly injured. She had circa 100 passengers and crew aboard when the mishap occured and all were rescued by helicopters, five Canadian Coast Guard vessels and fishing boats in the area.
It appears QUEEN OF THE NORTH grounded and sank an hour later in rough weather (40-knot winds).
She was built in 1969 as STENA DANICA and went to BC Ferries in 1974 first as QUEEN OF SURREY and then as QUEEN OF THE NORTH in 1980.

[Jacob Blondahl]

Wow, that's huge news for coastal B.C... The first sinking ever in the 46 year history of a fleet that has had over 40 ships at times. Read about it here: http://www.bcferries.com/files/AboutBCF/06-015queenofthenorthupdate2.pdf http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060322/ferry_sink_060322
and for info on the Queen of the North, check out BC Ferries website: http://www.bcferries.com/about/fleet/profile-queen_of_the_north.html

This vessel has been the fleet's flagship for many years, and I believe still was at the time of the sinking this morning. It is looking like all passengers and crew are accounted for and are now safely aboard a Canadian Coast Guard Vessel, the Sir Wilfred Laurier enroute to Prince Rupert. See my photo of the CCGS Sir Wilfred Laurier here: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=104718

Thanks Be to God all are o.k.

Jacob

[Jacob Blondahl]

Here's some newsreel footage of some of the aftermath of the incident. She apparently sank in 1200 feet of water. http://video.canada.com/VideoContent.aspx?&fl=&popup=1

Jacob

[Neil England]

As someone who has travelled this route twice on the 'Queen of the North', I am shocked and saddened. It was such a lovely and comfortable ship to travel on, and the route itself is spectacular. In the spring-to-fall season it runs during daylight hours (approx. 15-hr trip) so you get to see the coast in all its magnificent splendour.

Sadly, as of 6pm Pacific Standard Time, there were still 2 people missing, of the 101 passengers and crew that were aboard the ship. This is a couple from 100-Mile House, BC. The man's brother was interviewed on TV tonight and he thinks it's unlikely they would have left the group on their own without notifying someone. So he thinks they went down with the ship. Very sad, if true.

Neil England

[pam]

Good to see this sad news posted on this site. Unfortunately the general news media outside BC don't seem to take this accident as very newsworthy.  Doesn't seem to be much reporting on it.  It is indeed a tragic event.  How it happened and how two people are still unaacounted for is hard to comprehend.  Living here on the West Coast of B.C., we are so dependent upon the ferries and certainly take them for granted.  Their safety record has been excellent for many years.  But, of course, these ships are all very old now with the Queen of the North having been built in the early 60's.  For anyone interested, the ship was approx. 8,000 tons and was, as Neil said, an incredible tourist attraction in the summer, while acting as transportation/supply ship to various remote rugged areas along the BC coast.  The two missing passengers have still not been found and it is assumed now they went down with the ship. How incredibly sad.  There should be more media attention world wide to this incident as the long term ramifications will affect tourism to this area not to mention the lives of many families.