A pair of adults and a toddler are safe after being plucked from the ocean when a simple fishing trip turned into a harrowing afternoon after their small vessel took on water..Capt. Satinder Singh, Port of Nanaimo vice-president of marine operations and harbour master, told the Nanaimo News Bulletin the Nanaimo Port Authority patrol vessel MV Eagle responded August 12 to a 1:10 p.m. emergency mayday call in the Strait of Georgia, between Stephenson Point and Gabriola Island.The trio in the small craft were fishing when their boat’s motor stopped running and then it started taking on water over the transom and flooded..The adults and toddler in the small craft were fishing when the boat’s motor stopped running an started taking on water over the transom, flooding the boat..“They called me and said there was a mayday call that they were responding to on Snake Island … 12-13 minutes later they were on scene at Snake Island where they found an 18-foot yellow-hull power vessel foundering. There were two adults and one child that were in the water,” he told the Bulletin..Port of Nanaimo patrol vessels and Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Stn. 27 responded to Snake Island, but were unable to get close enough to the rocks on Snake Island, but Canadian Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Centre informed the NPA crew that Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue had been dispatched from Nanaimo..Singh told the Bulletin the RCM-SAR’s smaller rescue craft was able to get close to the crippled craft and rocks to retrieve the adults and toddler..“When we arrived we recovered the three folks … and then transferred them to the NPA ,” Josh Minami, RCM-SAR Nanaimo spokesman,” he told the Bulletin..“Because of where they were, the Eagle couldn’t get in because around Snake Island there’s lots of reefs and rocks.”.Singh said the the adults and toddler were given blankets and warmed to prevent hypothermia, then were brought to the downtown boat basin where they were handed over to paramedics..All three victims were given a clean bill of health and released..Mike D’Amour is the British Columbia Bureau Chief for the Western Standard..,.mdamour@westernstandardonline.com
