NationStates Jolt Archive

:eek: Jesus christ! I just head this on the local radio. Here's the story:

Passengers, crew safe after B.C. ferry sinks (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/22/bc_ferry060322.html)
Last Updated Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:45:43 EST
CBC News

All 101 passengers and crew have been accounted for after the ferry they were travelling in sank off the north coast of British Columbia.

The Queen of the North hit a rock shortly before 1 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, about 135 kilometres from Prince Rupert. The vessel reportedly began to tip to one side before it sank.

The ship is now completely submerged, said the Search and Rescue Centre in Victoria.

Officials are waiting for one more rescue ship carrying survivors to arrive in Hartley Bay, a community of about 200 people roughly 120 kilometres south of Prince Rupert, where other passengers were taken.

Many passengers were asleep when the incident occurred at 12:43 a.m. local time. It took about an hour for the ferry to sink, giving passengers time to scramble into lifeboats in the choppy seas, said Coast guard Cpt. Leah Byrne.

Fishing boats from nearby communities, a helicopter and several coast guard vessels responded to the distress call.

The ferry had been making the 450-kilometre journey from Prince Rupert south to Port Hardy when it sank.

According to the BC Ferries website, the Queen of the North would have left Prince Rupert on Tuesday at 8 p.m. local time and was to arrive in Port Hardy at 1:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

The 125-metre long ship, which can hold up to 700 people and 115 cars, is one of the larger ferries in the fleet.

It's not normally used for the inside passage route along the province's north coast, but was being used while the smaller Queen of Prince Rupert was undergoing maintenance. That vessel is 101 metres long.

*****

I once used to ride on this ferry when I was on my way to town from Port Hardy, I know people who work here. It's a very nice ferry, sad it is gone now.

bump

that must suck

Now there are reports that 2 people are missing.

I grew up taking ferries in the Southern Gulf Islands and still take them when I want to go back home. Things went straight to hell in BC when they privatized BC Ferries. The BC Liberals sold the thing off to some corporate friends and to balance the budget at the same time with the extra cash. Since it was privatized BC ferries has become notorious for carrying out maintenance on the cheap. Ferries are constantly breaking down and fares are increasing. I've taken that ferrey route in the past.

The Northern Passage ferry goes into open waters and this is one of the few single compartment ferries to do so. Single compartment means when flooding starts you’ve lost the ship completely. There are a lot of people trying to push for an international ban on single compartment ferries as a result of sinkings that in the past have claimed a lot of lives. The fact that in choppy seas at night you only have two people on a ship that crowded go missing is a credit to rescuers from the nearby fishing community and BC ferry staff. Ferries of this type that have sunk in Europe have resulted in a lot of death.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/03/22/bc_ferry060322.html

Lol, they sunk.

I heard about that on the radio this morning. It's horrible.

Lol, they sunk.Dude, that's not funny at all.

My family friend worked in that ship. Luckly today is his day off.

Also, the "Queen of the North" IS the only ferry operating up north, the other (Queen of Prince Rupert) is undergoing retrofitting and won't be back until summer. It is the only ship linking QCI and here, now the ship is gone, these guys on the island are starting to run out of resources.

Also, one family who are in process of moving LOST EVERYTHING in that ship.

Think about it, 2 missing people, QCI disconnected, and a family who lost everything.

Is this very sad?

A friend of mine has the same last name as one of the two people missing and comes from a large Vancouver Island family. It’s not a common name so it doesn’t bode well. I’m not going to email him about it though, since I don’t think it would be a cool way for him to find out about it or worry him unnecessarily if it isn’t a relative of his. If it relates to him he can tell me if and when he wants to.

The Bruce

Wow. This is pretty scary, considering I live on San Juan Island, and I can see Victoria on a clear day from my house. What's even more frightening is that Washington state keeps cutting the funding to our ferries every year. I just hope that it won't take a boat sinking in the sound to get people off their asses and realize that the ferries are our only way on or off the place we call home.

One ferry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3697668.stm) servicing the Gulf of Finland in 1994 and one ferry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4676916.stm) working on the Red Sea this year have sunk. Bangladesh seems to have ferry weakness (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4665137.stm).

Such disasters are always traumatic. They occur where people need them and dispite that our confidence is shattered, one must take them anyhow. The majority of them are the life and economic life-line to the rest of the world.

There’s a lot of people who work in the coast guard who used to work in the Ferries. I know that when the US owned ferries, running to Port Angeles from Victoria, tried replacing emergency trained staff with Mc Ferry workers, resulted in the Coast Guard getting tipped off. The coast guard pulled over their ferry in mid run and impounded it for failing to meet marine safety standards. BC ferries considered doing the same thing after being privatized but it was made clear that the Coast Guard (staffed by a lot of ex-BC Ferry workers) would make their lives hell over it.

I grew up riding ferries between the islands and they were the only reliable transportation, if you didn’t own a boat and nobody owned a boat they could transport their car on. It’s an essential service. No ferry, no groceries or gas. No beer! The only other means of travel are water taxis but you have to be on foot to make use of those and they cost a lot more to travel with. Water taxis were chartered by smaller islands to transport children to larger islands with bigger schools. Nothing like a loud, shaky boat ride first thing in the morning.

The Bruce

Damn... that's scary.

I consider it a miracle that they only lost two people on the BC ship, considering the ship sunk in an hour, in rough seas in the middle of the night, and had over 700 people aboard most of whom would have been sleeping. I really credit the local fishing village’s response and BC ferry staff. It’s another case though of single compartment ferries in open water, something that really shouldn’t be allowed in this day and age.

I wouldn’t compare it with ferry accidents in developing countries, because those are completely due to a complete lack of regulation and enforced safety standards. In places like that if there are any regulations you just offer the right bribe to have them overlooked. Ferries are always overloaded, with little or no regard for safety. It’s the same with those overloaded buses meandering through mountain passes. You’re really taking your life in your hands anytime you allow yourself on transport like that.

The Bruce

Reason why MV Queen of the North sank because she only had one hull compartment. If the hull got flooded, the ship will sink in less than an hour. This is why MV Estonia sank.

Now Unabashed Greed, your state ferry service should be more worried about their own fleets than BC Ferries does. Since most of the state's vessels are 40+ years old and assuming they're single hull vessels, there's a greater chance of sinking after fitting a rock.

No ferry, no groceries or gas. No beer!
And that's exactly what happened in QCI right now.

I consider it a miracle that they only lost two people on the BC ship, considering the ship sunk in an hour, in rough seas in the middle of the night, and had over 700 people aboard most of whom would have been sleeping. I really credit the local fishing village’s response and BC ferry staff.
Yeah, kudos to people of Hartley Bay. :p :)

It’s another case though of single compartment ferries in open water, something that really shouldn’t be allowed in this day and age.
Actually, this ferry is not fit to sail under European standards.

Damn... that's scary.I know... scary as hell. Really, I will never ride on a BC Ferry until there's a better safety and structural standards.

It’s not going to stop me from riding BC ferries (what I’m going to fly by floatplane every time I want to visit the family or go to the Mainland?!), but I will continue to have a lack of respect for the privatized BC Ferry Corporation and the BC Liberal party, whose negligence and greed made it possible for this disaster to happen. Just don't trust the lack of maintenance to keep the ferry running or safe that's all.

The Bruce

I remember talking to a member of the BC ferry crew that went across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen of Cumberland. It’s not a ferry that supposed to be on the open ocean, but BC Ferries bought it from Norway and brought it over on the cheap. The seas can get a bit rough out in the Atlantic and none of the crew thought they would live to see North America ever again. Apparently a lot of the crew came back with the mariner equivalent of posttraumatic stress syndrome.

http://www.bcferries.com/files/images/fleet/Cumberland_dep_Lyall_2resize.JPG
Pic of the Queen of Cumberland and what were they thinking!

Now I heard the two couples missing maybe dead. :(

In other news, my mom told me this afternoon that our family friend who worked for the BC ferries was in that ship that sank yesterday morning. Thank god she's OK.

Also, the "Queen of the North" IS the only ferry operating up north, the other (Queen of Prince Rupert) is undergoing retrofitting and won't be back until summer. It is the only ship linking QCI and here, now the ship is gone, these guys on the island are starting to run out of resources.

so what are they going to do about shipping supplies to Queen Charlotte Island and stuff? They've got to have some emergency vessels that they can send up there to make sure the QCI people don't starve, right?

Well, you know what they say about ferries: if no one believes in them, they go away.

Good that no one was lost!

so what are they going to do about shipping supplies to Queen Charlotte Island and stuff? They've got to have some emergency vessels that they can send up there to make sure the QCI people don't starve, right?I heard there's going to be a barge service for commercial trucks.

Good that no one was lost!Unfortunately, that's not true. Two are actually missing and feared dead. :(

Jesus, it's hard to think about it. Especially when you rode on this ferry before, I did.

A government report came out from a few years ago that stated very clearly that the Queen of the North was among those that needed to be retired and that under no conditions should it be used in waters that weren’t sheltered from the ocean. The BC Liberals are of course trying to downplay this obvious slap in the face to the people who took that ferry ride and are trying to protect themselves the weasels they sold BC ferries to.

The Bruce

I remember talking to a member of the BC ferry crew that went across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen of Cumberland. It’s not a ferry that supposed to be on the open ocean, but BC Ferries bought it from Norway and brought it over on the cheap. The seas can get a bit rough out in the Atlantic and none of the crew thought they would live to see North America ever again. Apparently a lot of the crew came back with the mariner equivalent of posttraumatic stress syndrome.

http://www.bcferries.com/files/images/fleet/Cumberland_dep_Lyall_2resize.JPG
Pic of the Queen of Cumberland and what were they thinking!
Holy Shit they took that across the North Atlantic?! And they still have a licence how, exactly?

A government report came out from a few years ago that stated very clearly that the Queen of the North was among those that needed to be retired and that under no conditions should it be used in waters that weren’t sheltered from the ocean. The BC Liberals are of course trying to downplay this obvious slap in the face to the people who took that ferry ride and are trying to protect themselves the weasels they sold BC ferries to.

The Bruce

Cram it, commie. This isn't about politics, it's about people's lives being at stake. How dare you even go there. :mad:

BC Ferries is a private corporation - the Liberals have NOTHING to do with BC Ferries anymore, and no authority over what they do. The blame, if anyone IS to blame, lies with the corporation and not with any government.

Cram it, commie. This isn't about politics, it's about people's lives being at stake. How dare you even go there. :mad:

BC Ferries is a private corporation - the Liberals have NOTHING to do with BC Ferries anymore, and no authority over what they do. The blame, if anyone IS to blame, lies with the corporation and not with any government.

The BC Liberals have their fingers all over the report stating that this ferry would be unsafe except in sheltered waters. That would make them involved. Regulation and enforcement of regulation are supposed to be the job of government and government agencies, or was there a regime change since the last time I watched the news? As a matter of fact I dare go there, when there are people like yourself who want everyone to walk around with blinders on for the sake of a few unscupulous individuals ripping off the taxpayers for profit.

Calling someone a commie for not supporting endangering public safety is a new definition I wasn’t aware of. I strongly believe in the free market, but think that they should keep their mitts off things like infrastructure, schools, and emergency services, because they no longer serves the publics interest when they do.

The ferry was traveling 19 knots on autopilot at night, but did have a lot of GPS linked tech to keep it on course. Somehow things didn’t go well and it rammed into an island when it failed to properly execute a turn. Autopilot sailing is both a blessing and a killer. A lot of fishboats use it to travel at night through busy nautical areas while they sleep (which is illegal) and a few of them end up dead doing it.

Despite a gag order by the BC ferry corporation, several crew members of the ill fated Queen of the North have come forward to speak to the media. They haven’t come forward to blade their employers, they wanted to come forward to talk about their experiences and heroism of other crewmates. A lot of the crewquarters are below the waterline and they were the first to have their lives in peril. One crewman had the rock that ripped the boat open appear a couple meters from him in his room. A woman couldn’t get out of her crewcabin when the water was rushing in, while a bunch of crew struggled until they finally rescued her.

The Bruce

umm... the importance of this?

umm... the importance of this?

I realize now that some people hate it when people deviate from the 7 allowed topics in the General Forum: Hating Liberals, Hating Conservatives, Hating other people's countries, Sex, God, and of course Chuck Norris.

Yes there is a World beyond even these topics. No, really it’s true. Seriously, it's true and wipe that funny look off your face when you're reading this...

I consider it a miracle that they only lost two people on the BC ship, considering the ship sunk in an hour, in rough seas in the middle of the night, and had over 700 people aboard most of whom would have been sleeping. I really credit the local fishing village’s response and BC ferry staff. It’s another case though of single compartment ferries in open water, something that really shouldn’t be allowed in this day and age.

I wouldn’t compare it with ferry accidents in developing countries, because those are completely due to a complete lack of regulation and enforced safety standards. In places like that if there are any regulations you just offer the right bribe to have them overlooked. Ferries are always overloaded, with little or no regard for safety. It’s the same with those overloaded buses meandering through mountain passes. You’re really taking your life in your hands anytime you allow yourself on transport like that.

The Bruce

This is totally, totally true. Just look at what happened to the Al Salam Boccacio

I remember talking to a member of the BC ferry crew that went across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen of Cumberland. It’s not a ferry that supposed to be on the open ocean, but BC Ferries bought it from Norway and brought it over on the cheap. The seas can get a bit rough out in the Atlantic and none of the crew thought they would live to see North America ever again. Apparently a lot of the crew came back with the mariner equivalent of posttraumatic stress syndrome.

http://www.bcferries.com/files/images/fleet/Cumberland_dep_Lyall_2resize.JPG
Pic of the Queen of Cumberland and what were they thinking!Jesus...

Btw, images taken by mini-subs suggest that the ferry is still in one piece.

And meanwhile, BC Ferries said that the Queen of Prince Rupert won't be in service 'til mid-April.

Jesus...

Btw, images taken by mini-subs suggest that the ferry is still in one piece.

And meanwhile, BC Ferries said that the Queen of Prince Rupert won't be in service 'til mid-April.

Which one is the Queen of Prince Rupert again?

and also i haven't been paying much attention to the news lately, but have the 2 people been found yet?

http://www.bcferries.com/files/images/fleet/Queen_of_Prince_Rupert.jpg

Smaller but as crappy as the sunken shit ferry.

The couple weren't found on the ship, I don't think the mini-subs went inside the ferry.

The RCMP has launched a criminal investigation of the sinking of the Queen of the North off the coast of northern British Columbia. They are looking to gather evidence to lay a charge of potential criminal liability (as well as other possible violations of the Criminal Code and Canada Shipping Act) against the BC Ferry Corporation or its employees.

This investigation comes from a lot of public pressure over the rash of ferry accidents that occurred after BC Ferries became privatized, with safety and maintenance being reduced for higher profit margins.

Passengers who survived the sinking of the Queen of the North have already begun their lawsuits. One older couple was in the process of moving stated that all their family heirlooms and valuables are now lost in 427 meters of water. The lawsuit sites negligence for failing to maintain a proper lookout; crew training failures; failure to properly supervise the bridge crew; failure to operate at safe speeds at night and in rough seas; and failure to conduct an evacuation of the ferry to prevent or minimilize injury.

The Bruce