Two people are dead after their boat sank off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Three others were rescued from the 8.5-metre power boat are in stable condition.
Colin Henthorne with the joint rescue coordination centre in Victoria says the call came in this afternoon. "At about 1:20 local time the Tofino Lifeboat Station received a cell phone call from a person on board a 28-foot fishing vessel 6 kilometres west Vargas Island.
RCMP; Coastguard; Tofino Fire; Atleo air and Tofino air all responded and joined the rescue effort.
An aircraft from Atleo Air, flown by Malcolm Fletcher, located the boat in open water and the 5 people just before three p.m. after they had spent almost two hours in the water. Officials say it wasn't unusually windy in the area with winds around fifteen knots.
Henthorne says the ocean is unforgiving and they were in it for a long time. The waters in that area are quite cold and anyone in them for long enough could be subject to hypothermia.
The West coast of Vancouver Island is beautiful; rugged; raw and it can also be dangerous.
No word at this point on what caused the to boat to sink.
It's believed they were fishing for Halibut but officials don't know if it was a private or commercial boat.