Vancouver Boat Sinking Search Ends, Six Missing After Rescue Efforts

Based on coverage from BBC, CBC, Global News, The Epoch Times, CP24, and Daily Hive.

Six people are presumed drowned after a vessel described in reports as charter or commercial began taking on water and sank near Roberts Bank off Richmond, B.C., according to Richmond RCMP statements reported by Daily Hive.

The incident was reported around 11:45 a.m. PT Sunday. Reports accounted for 10 people from the vessel: four were rescued or survived, and six were missing. The first distress report came from a civilian vessel and described several people in the water without life jackets or personal flotation devices.

Civilians pulled survivors from water

Brian Angus and Dorothy Stauffer, civilians on a sailboat, rescued three people from the water, according to reporting from CBC and the BBC.

Major Gregory Clarke, the officer-in-charge of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, told CBC the couple’s actions mattered in the first critical moments. He said they “saved people’s lives by calling in the incident.”

The initial report of people in the water without flotation devices quickly triggered a major response. Boats, aircraft, ferries and civilian vessels were all part of the search effort off Richmond as crews looked for the remaining people.

Search suspended Sunday night

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre suspended the search-and-rescue operation at 9:45 p.m. PT Sunday and turned the response over to the RCMP.

“We covered the area extensively,” the officer in charge of the rescue mission told CBC, adding that rescuers believed they had “exhausted all possibilities of finding anyone on the surface alive.”

The search had accounted for four survivors. Six others remained missing when search-and-rescue was suspended.

RCMP shift to recovery

According to Daily Hive, Richmond RCMP later said the six unaccounted-for people were four men and two women, and that they were presumed drowned.

“Despite extensive multi-agency search efforts conducted yesterday, four men and two women remain unaccounted for and are presumed drowned,” RCMP said in a release quoted by Daily Hive. “The search has been suspended, and efforts have now shifted to recovery.”

Daily Hive also reported that RCMP said its Underwater Recovery Team would try to locate the capsized vessel in very deep water using sonar. Police said the team’s assessment would determine whether a dive operation was feasible, or whether a remotely operated vehicle might be needed.

Survivors and unanswered questions

Daily Hive reported that RCMP said two survivors had been discharged from hospital, while two others remained in critical condition.

The cause of the sinking has not been determined. Authorities are investigating the circumstances.

“The cause of the incident is not yet known,” RCMP said in a news release cited in the source reporting.

Clarke told CBC investigators still did not know what caused the vessel to sink. “We have no idea at this time,” he said, adding: “There was no sign of any vessel at all, that is what was alarming.”

For now, the confirmed picture remains stark: a vessel took on water and sank near Roberts Bank late Sunday morning, four people survived, and six others were missing before RCMP moved the operation from search to recovery.

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