B.C. man saves four in Tofino float plane crash, six years after Leviathan II rescue

Nearly six years to the day of Monday's rescue, Brown helped rescue passengers of a whale-watching boat that capsized near Tofino in 2015.

Ken Brown was at the First Street dock in Tofino, B.C. on Monday afternoon when he saw a floatplane crash into a water taxi.

The Ahousaht man untied his own water taxi and rushed to the site of the collision.

As he approached the plane, it started to sink forward. A door to the plane opened and a young boy appeared.

“I extend my hand out and then I tell this little boy, ‘OK, you’ve got to come towards me.’ So he comes towards me. I get him aboard and he’s shivering,” he said.

Brown then helped the boy’s father and two other passengers onto his boat and brought them ashore.

The pilot of the plane was also brought safely to shore.

The crash was the second in waters off Tofino in four months. In July, a floatplane flipped and crashed, sending five people to hospital.

Days after the collision, Brown says he’s still trying to process what took place.