One tugboat was the only casualty when two of the craft collided near Gabriola Island Tuesday.
The accident happened at about 6 p.m. between Duke Point and Gabriola Island in Northumberland Channel, according to John Rose, marine coordinator at the Canadian Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria.
“There was a 30-foot tug that was hit by another tug that was running beside it,” Rose said. “There was some sort of an incident happened on board. I’m not clear why that tug swerved and hit the other one, but there was a collision between the two tugs and the smaller tug sank.”
The collision caused the smaller tug to roll over and sink, but the two people aboard that craft were pulled from the water unhurt by the crew of the other tug.
David Mailloux, Nanaimo Port Authority spokesman, said it was the nine-metre-long tug M.V. Alburn that was struck by the larger M.V. C.T. Titan.
Nanaimo Port Authority craft responded to the scene with the Canadian Coast Guard, Jones Marine Services, operator of the M.V. Alburn, and Western Canada Marine Response Centre, which has specialized gear to deal with marine accidents.
The craft sank in an area of Northumberland Channel that is about 100 to 125 metres deep.
“Jones Marine was on site overnight with absorbent booms to collect any of the fuel that was being released,” Mailloux said.
He said there have been no signs of any spilled fuel coming ashore, but the port authority will continue to monitor for oil spills and coast guard aircraft will also fly over the area to look for oil slicks.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has deployed a team of investigators to Nanaimo to gather information and assess the incident.
“There’s nothing new that we’ve heard yet … we’ve deployed and we’re assessing and that status continues,” said John Cottreau, TSB spokesman. “There’s really nothing new to say until the assessment is completed.”
Cottreau did not have a date for when new information might be released.
Jones Marine remains on the scene to deal with oil seeping from the sunken craft.
“There have been upwellings, which is why Jones Marine has been tasked to provide continuous boom coverage and there’s overflights by Transport Canada and we are constantly visiting the site and doing analysis,” said Edward Dahlgren, director of operations and harbour master for Nanaimo Port Authority.