Updated: June 23.
An Ahousaht water taxi operator and his passengers are lucky to be alive after the boat they were traveling in ran out of fuel and ended up on the rocks in the early evening on June 15. The water taxi had seven passengers aboard, including two children.
According to Carlene Paul, who was a passenger on the M.V. Tyco, it was a windy day, making for a rough boat trip. The sea was so rough that the water taxi driver hugged the shoreline on the way back to Ahousaht; a common practise among skippers of small boats in stormy seas.
When the boat reached Catface reef, which is about halfway between Ahousaht and Tofino, Paul said the skipper successfully navigated the small boat through a narrow passage between the rocks; it is a short cut that skippers of smaller boats, familiar with the area, often use.
But then the unthinkable happened. According to Paul, just as they exited the passage the boat ran out of fuel. Almost as soon as they popped out of the passage, the boat was pushed right back in by wind and waves.
Without power, the boat was like a cork being tossed around amongst the barnacle encrusted rocks and there was nothing the passengers could do but hope for rescue.
Paul said that the skipper went to the back of the boat and began moving things around.
“We were hit by about four or five big waves and everybody was being tossed around,” said Paul.
In Ahousaht, Inez Paul heard her terrified mother screaming into the VHF radio that they needed help. She estimated that it was only 10 to 15 minutes from when she first heard the Mayday to when she received word that everyone was rescued.
But for Carlene Paul, the accident was so terrifying that she doesn’t remember making the call, and she doesn’t remember some details, like how she ended up outside the boat on the rocks.
The boat, she said, was teetering on a crevice in the rocks. When the waves washed in they pushed the boat up against the rocks, but when they washed out, the boat teetered on the rocks, looking like it could tip over into the crevice.
“I asked Tim (another passenger) to pass me the kids,” said Paul. She tried to keep the two girls as dry as possible on the rocks and could only watch helplessly as other passengers were thrown hard both inside the boat and in their attempts to climb up on the rocks.
Once everyone was off the boat, said Paul, she saw the skipper and another young man attempt to secure the boat. “But a big wave came and the skipper fell and he was tumbled around, then tossed up on a rock,” said Paul. Paul said she saw him get hit by the boat while he was in the water.
Not long after, a whale watching boat approached, but Paul said they could not get close enough to rescue anybody. “It was just too dangerous,” she said.
Eventually, other boats arrived and everyone was taken off of the rocks.
Paul said she was one of the ones that returned immediately to Ahousaht after the accident, but she is shook up pretty bad.
She was grateful to be home with her children and grandchildren, but will brave another boat trip today so that she can be checked for injuries. She said her whole body is aching.
According to John Millman of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, a call for help came in shortly after 5 p.m. June 15. The call came in from the RCMP after someone called 9-1-1 reporting that a vessel struck rocks off of Ahousaht. A Coast Guard Vessel was dispatched from Tofino but arrived too late to be of assistance.
Millman said he received a report that the vessel ran aground after running out of fuel. There were eight people aboard, all Ahousaht residents.
By the time the Coast Guard arrived on the scene, other nearby boats had already answered the distress call and had rescued the passengers. Five passengers were taken to Ahousaht unharmed; three went to Tofino, one with injuries.
There are any number of reasons that a fuel shortage could have caused the emergency. Some have speculated that fuel could have been stolen from the tank in Ahousaht, which has been an ongoing problem in the village, Ha-Shilth-Sa has learned. But RCMP say it could have been a mechanical issue that meant fuel wasn't reaching the motor.
The community of Ahousaht is grateful to all that answered the call to save the people.
The water taxi, M.V. Tyco was taken back to Ahousaht and is still floating.
