Prince George, B.C.- The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is gathering information on the recent rough ride for passengers on B.C. Ferry, “Northern Adventure”. “At this point we are gathering information to see if there should be a full investigation” says TSB investigator Greg Stewart.

 

The Northern Adventure left Prince Rupert at 11:00 p.m.  November 22^nd.   According to Environment Canada’s Marine forecasts, at that time the wind was from the SE at 32 knots, gusting to 40knots and wave heights were 2.5 meters and there was a storm warning in effect.   The Ferry didn’t make it to  the Queen Charlottes as it was battered by high winds and   waves and returned to port at 8:30 on the morning of the 23^rd. 

 

Lee-al Nelson was on board the ferry. He is the coach of the Queen Charlotte Islands Secondary School Senior Girls Volleyball team which was heading back home after a tournament.  Nelson says the Ferry should never have left port “It takes about 2 hours to get out of the calm waters into the big water. There was a sign at the terminal saying there may be a delay because of a storm. We all knew there was a storm out there, so in my opinion, deciding to go ahead with the sailing was a total  disregard for all our safety.” B.C. Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall says the policy calls for cancellation of a sailing if waves are of 3.6 meters “sustained.”

 

Nelson says he awoke at 1:00 in the morning “You could hear dishes smashing, and cars below crunching, there were people screaming.” He says this went on for several hours, and at no time   did   any of the B.C. Ferries staff make any announcements of what they should do “We got no direction from anyone, there were no announcements and people were really scared.   We can’t be left helpless out there, we’re the passengers.”

 

Nelson says the lack of communication continued   when they arrived back at port “There was no one there at the terminal to meet us, they showed up about 10 minutes later, there were no ambulances on scene to handle any injuries, and I have no knowledge of any passengers being asked if they were hurt.   I did see some   B.C. Ferries employees being asked about injuries, and I was told there were seven employees injured.”

 

He says at the height of the storm,   it was nearly impossible to prevent being tossed around “You had to brace yourself   just to sit on   your bed.” The reports from Environment Canada indicate that at the height of the   storm the waves were 6.5 meters over a two hour period.”

 

Passengers were flown to the Queen Charlottes the next day, but Nelson says B.C. Ferries has not picked up the hotel bill for the unexpected overnight hotel stay. “The communication was horrible, and that is something that has to change.”

 

B.C. Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall says   while she has heard the complaint of lack of communication, she says announcements were made and staff spoke directly with some of the passengers, “But that is among the lessons to be learned from this.” She says B.C.Ferries is launching a “local area investigation” into the sailing.

 

Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Stewart says it will be at least another  week before there is a decision on a full Transportation  Safety Board Investigation.

 

Lee-al  Nelson will be a guest on the Meisner program this  morning  on  93.1 CFISFM  and here on Opinion250.com through live streaming audio. Click  on the microphone on the home page to listen in.