RCMP probe Coast Guard's actions
Rescuer ship's tow of troubled fishing boat ends in fatal capsize, killing three sealers as they slept below deck
(mar. 31, 2008)
globe and mail
(ED NOTE: The Canadian Coast Guard has been entrusted with monitoring the supposed "humane-ness" of the seal slaughter. This outright negligence is further proof that they are incapable of doing so. They are incapable of completing a routine tow. There is absolutely no way that they can monitor hundreds of men scrambling frantically on the ice butchering as many seals as possible in short periods of time. This is a pathetic example of Canada's blatant stupidity - and still another reason to end this barbaric practice.)
The Canadian Coast Guard was at the centre of a federal investigation yesterday after a routine towing of a disabled fishing trawler ended in tragedy early Saturday, sending six seal hunters into the icy waters off Cape Breton where three died and one is missing but presumed dead.
Families of the seal hunters demanded a full public inquiry into the accident, in which the trawler was dragged over a chunk of ice and capsized. They said they wanted explanations for the lack of Coast Guard surveillance, the speed of the icebreaker and the absence of protocol for a vessel in tow.
"The Coast Guard sunk them," said Damien Déraspe, brother-in-law of Carl Aucoin, 31. The father of a two-year-old, who with the other sealers lived in the village of Étang-du-Nord, was reported missing late yesterday but was believed dead.
"There were always risks, but this wasn't a hunting accident, it was a towing accident," Mr. Déraspe said.
Yesterday the RCMP began an investigation and met with family members to offer an explanation and to seek information from the two survivors.
The accident that took the lives of the four Îles de la Madeleine residents was the worst to hit the island's fishing communities since the sinking of the Nadine in December, 1990, when eight fishermen died.
Out of solidarity for the dead seamen, other seal hunters returned to shore and called off the hunt until after funerals expected later this week. Yesterday, islands residents known as Madelinots packed a local church and supported the mourning family members, bewildered by a tragedy that in the minds of many could have easily been avoided.
"There's always an error somewhere that is the cause of an accident. We need to know what errors were committed, what happened and we need an inquiry to get to the answers," said Jean-Claude Lapierre, 67, former president of the local seal hunters association.
Bruno-Pierre Bourque, one of two survivors of the capsized vessel, was at the helm of the 12-metre fishing trawler L'Acadien II from Îles de la Madeleine when the tragedy occurred. His father, Bruno, the boat's captain, and four other sealers were sleeping below deck, convinced they were out of harm's way after calling for a tow from the Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander when their vessel encountered rudder problems in the thick, heavy ice.
"Because of the rudder problem, our boat was driven toward the left rather than following the path being cleared by the icebreaker," Mr. Bourque told Radio-Canada. None of the icebreaker's Coast Guard crew members were on deck to keep a watch on the trawler as it was being pulled at what he believed to be an excessive speed over a thick patch of ice.
"They were four or five of them watching at first. I don't know if it was because it was cold but they went inside and no one was watching," Mr. Bourque said. "When we hit the ice, the icebreaker didn't notice it. Another boat behind us alerted the towing boat to stop. That's when I told the crew to get out as fast as they could."
In a scramble for survival as water poured into the vessel, Claude Déraspe smashed a porthole open with his feet and managed to free himself from the sinking vessel. Along with Mr. Bourque, he was grabbed from the icy waters and pulled to safety by the crew of the other small sealing vessel, Madelinot War Lord, trailing the disabled trawler.
The captain of the rescue boat tried to alert the icebreaker as did Mr. Bourque, but couldn't get through.
"We were telling them to stop," crew member Paul Dickson told The Canadian Press. Mr. Dickson was among those who helped pull the two survivors aboard his ship.
Mr. Bourque's father, Bruno, drowned along with Gilles Leblanc and Marc-André Déraspe, unrelated to survivor Claude Déraspe.
The Coast Guard rescue team recovered the bodies of the three dead sealers, which were flown to Halifax for an autopsy, but called off the search for Mr. Aucoin on Saturday evening, less than 48 hours after the accident.
"Why did they call off the search for Mr. Aucoin so quickly? And why was the family never informed of this? This is deplorable. The family has been afflicted by a terrible tragedy and the Coast Guard is only compounding their grief," Bloc Québécois MP for Gaspésie-Îles de la Madeleine Raymond Blais said yesterday.
Speaking on behalf of the Aucoin family, Mr. Blais joined others in demanding that the search continue. He said he will demand explanations from the federal government about the accident in the House of Commons later today.
Fisheries and Oceans and the Coast Guard issued a statement yesterday, offering condolences to the sealers' families, but offering no explanation for what happened. It said the Coast Guard would conduct its own safety review, which would include its current towing policy. The Coast Guard conducts 600 to 700 towing operations a year. Iles de la Madeleine Mayor Joel Arseneau said the families were angry at how the Coast Guard handled the towing operation.
"The families here want to know why the icebreaker was going so fast, why nobody was watching," Mr. Arseneau said yesterday. "We aren't blaming anyone, we just want answers to our questions. ... This was a Coast Guard operation and seems to me this tragedy could have been avoided."
Added Mr. Aucoin's mother, Micheline Aucoin: "We don't want this to ever happen again," she told The Canadian Press.
"It was a rescue mission gone wrong."
From rescue to tragedy in seconds
Three seal hunters were reported dead and the search for a fourth missing in frigid Gulf of St. Lawrence waters was called off after the vessel the men were in capsized. L' Acadien II was being towed behind the Coast Guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander when it ran aground on sea ice and heaved onto its side.
- Around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, the icebreaker Sir William Alexander was towing the sealing vessel L'Acadien II through waters described as being 50 per cent covered with ice toward Sydney, N.S., at a speed of about 2.5 knots. L'Acadien II had reported a problem with its rudder.
- The sealing boat was veering to the left because of the damaged rudder and could not directly follow the path cleared by the icebreaker.
- Around 1:15 a.m., the icebreaker suddenly accelerated to four knots, according to one of the survivors aboard the smaller vessel.
L'Acadien II slammed into a slab of ice. One of two survivors aboard said the crew of the Sir William Alexander failed to notice the smaller vessel being pulled over a large chunk of ice.
- The icebreaker continued to put pressure on the grounded sealing vessel, forcing the boat over on its side. It quickly took on water.
The six hunters inside L'Acadien II scrambled to get out but only two succeeded. One was on deck when the incident happened. The other smashed his way through a porthole below deck.
The accident happened about 70 km north of Cape Breton Island. |
