Divers recover three dead hunters from capsized sealing boat off Cape Breton

Divers recover three dead hunters from capsized sealing boat off Cape Breton
By THE CANADIAN PRESS


HALIFAX - Divers recovered the bodies of three seal hunters from a fishing vessel that capsized early Saturday and were searching the icy waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence for a fourth man.

The 12-metre vessel from the Iles de la Madeleine in Quebec, carrying a crew of six, had reported steering problems late Friday and was being towed by a Canadian Coast Guard light icebreaker when it flipped.

Navy Lt. Lora Collier said two seal hunters were pulled from water soon after the boat rolled over and were reported in good condition.

Later, four search and rescue technicians recovered the bodies from the boat about 70 kilometres north of Cape Breton.

She said it's not clear if the missing man was swept overboard.

"We have recovered three deceased from the fishing vessel, so one currently remains missing," she said from Halifax, adding that she did not know the men's names. "The search is continuing."

A Hercules search-and-rescue aircraft and a Cormorant helicopter from 14 Wing Greenwood, N.S., were fanning out along a grid pattern to search for the remaining crewman.

Meanwhile, the disabled fishing boat was secured alongside the 83-metre coast guard vessel Sir William Alexander.

It wasn't clear what caused the vessel to capsize, but thick ice was reportedly hampering fishing boats as they set out on the opening day of the annual seal hunt.

The two sealers who were rescued were above decks, while the other four men were sleeping below deck when the boat flipped, Collier said.

A helicopter was expected to pick them up and fly them back to the Iles de la Madeleine, she said.

News of the accident was spreading through the tightly knit island community.

A man who wouldn't give his name but answered the phone at a shipbuilding company in the town of Fatima said he heard about the capsizing at 7 a.m.

"It's very sad," he said. "A tragedy like that practically touches every family on the islands. It's a small place, everyone knows each other."

He speculated that ice may have been a factor in the capsizing.

"There is nothing bizarre in what happened," he added. "When the ice decides to rise, it will lift up anything. The effect of the ice is extremely strong. It could have happened to this one (vessel) or another one."

The ill-fated boat was one of about 16 carrying 100 hunters that headed out from the Iles de la Madeleine, steaming toward a large herd of seals in the Cabot Strait between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Three sealing vessels were reported to be struggling in heavy ice conditions late Friday night off Cape Breton - two taking in some water and the other suffering mechanical problems.