'They were lucky': 5 crew rescued from sinking mussel boat in Malpeque Harbour
CBC
Crew members of a mussel-fishing boat that ran aground off Malpeque Harbour on P.E.I.'s North Shore have been rescued, according to reports from people at the scene.
The 45-foot vessel ran aground on a sandbar and started taking on water in rough seas just after 8 a.m. Monday, said Timothy Wall, a fisherman from the area. The New London Fire Company told CBC News there were five people aboard at the time.
A rescue Zodiac from the New London Fire Company was able to get all five fishermen off of the sinking boat just after 9 a.m.
A spokesperson for the Canadian Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax said there were no medical issues or injuries reported among the five crew members who were rescued.
The spokesperson said the plan is to tow the boat out of the harbour sometime today.
Wall said the boat was trying to bring a load of mussels in when it struck the sandbar.
"When the boat went aground, everybody just kind of climbed on the side, then they had to climb on the roof," he said. "It's dangerous — it's rocky and it's windy and it's cold."
Alan Doucette, a firefighter and medical first responder with the New London department, was aboard the Zodiac. He said the water conditions and depth made it difficult for other nearby fishing boats to assist for fear that they would also get stranded.
"The tide was coming in fast, the wind was in our face and the waves were really, really big, they were crashing over the boat," Doucette said.
"[The crew members] were lucky, but they did everything right. They put their life jackets on, they got up high on the vessel, they radioed out for help, the other boats came [and] we came along. The system works."
The New London Fire Company purchased the rescue Zodiac just over a year ago.
Because they had it, the rescue crew was able to make it to the stranded fishermen in about 15 minutes, Doucette said.
All of the crew members were wearing life jackets at the time of the rescue.
"It's a dangerous, rough spot, and thank God nobody was killed," Wall said.
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