'Fridges, rain boots, shoes, toys': B.C. coast littered with debris believed to be from stricken cargo ship

A school group from Port Hardy, B.C., got a firsthand look Wednesday at how the recent loss of 109 shipping containers at sea may be affecting beaches on Vancouver Island.

Students from the Eke Me-Xi Learning Centre take field trips every Wednesday to learn about the environment and about how to leave places better than they found them.

Refrigerators believed to have washed ashore from the Zim Kingson cargo ship on northern Vancouver Island. (Jerika McArter)

This week they spotted several items that are believed to have washed ashore from shipping containers from the cargo vessel Zim Kingston, currently anchored off Victoria.

Educator Jerika McArter posted photos to Facebook of some of the items she and others found washed up on the shore of Palmerston Beach, approximately an hour and a half drive west of Port Hardy.

“There is stuff everywhere: fridges, rain boots, shoes, toys, Chinese checkers boards, baby oil, food packs, hair wax, Styrofoam, backpacks and more,” McArter wrote.

"This is only 1 of the containers and the pictures don’t show how bad/sad it is," she added.

Debris believed to have washed ashore from the Zim Kingson cargo ship on northern Vancouver Island. (Jerika McArter)

Debris believed to have washed ashore from the Zim Kingson cargo ship on northern Vancouver Island. (Jerika McArter)