People look on as a military AgustaWestland CH-149 Cormorant helicopter demonstrates a search and rescue operation demonstration in this file photo taken in Victoria, on Sept. 17, 2023. The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito
Rescue officials have suspended their search for six people who were believed to be missing in the Strait of Georgia in waters near Vancouver after a charter boat sank on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria said Monday that the search operation was suspended at 9:45 p.m. Sunday night and the response had been transferred to the RCMP.
Capt. Pedram Moyheddin, a spokesperson for the Canadian Armed Forces, said four people were rescued after reports that several people were in the water without flotation devices.
“By 1:15 p.m., four persons had been taken to Sea Island Coast Guard Station and transferred to emergency health services,” Moyheddin said in an emailed statement.
“The search continued for another six people believed to be in the water.”
RCMP said on Sunday night that the charter vessel began taking on water near Roberts Bank around 11:45 a.m. and the incident was called in by another civilian craft, triggering a search that involved agencies including the RCMP, the air force, coast guard, Marine Search and Rescue, and BC Ferries.
Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue said on social media that it had been called to an “active distress situation west of Sturgeon Bank in the Strait of Georgia.”
The FlightAware online flight tracker showed that an air force plane flew in a grid pattern over the search area for about seven hours on Sunday before returning to Comox Airport around 8 p.m.
Police said the cause of the sinking is not known and it’s under investigation. A strong wind warning is in effect for the Strait of Georgia south of Nanaimo.
