Passengers stranded on lifeboats in stormy seas after B.C. ferry sinks [!-- END HEADLINE --] [DIV id=ynmain][!-- BEGIN STORY BODY --] [DIV id=storybody] [DIV class=storyhdr] [EM class=recenttimedate]18 minutes ago[/i]
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PRINCE RUPERT, B.C. (CP) - Passengers on an overnight B.C. ferry were torn from their sleep Wednesday morning and thrown into a living nightmare, evacuating onto lifeboats that tossed and swayed on stormy seas for more than an hour as the Queen of the North disappeared into the Pacific.
All 101 passengers survived the sinking in the driving rain. Some of them were snatched from their lifeboats by fishermen on the Lone Star and taken into Hartley Bay, an aboriginal community along B.C.'s rugged northern Inside Passage. Others were ferried there by speedboats dispatched by the community.
In shock and shivering, the passengers were bundled into blankets by community members and served coffee in a local hall.
Shelby Robinson, 13, said the entire village of about 200 residents pitched in when the distress call came in.
"I stayed here to get ready for them when they came in, get blankets ready and everything," she said. "Most of the guys went out and got their boats running right away and they took people in by groups."
Added Chris Bolton, the former band manager of Hartley Bay: "We had two gillnetters go out and four speedboats that went out to assist taking passengers in from the ferry to Hartley Bay. We had the ladies prepare refreshments, coffee and sandwiches for the passengers that came."
The local housing co-ordinator, Ernie Westgarth, said one rescuer who went out on a boat in the pitch black said he saw the ferry go down and heard the crashing of the dozen or so vehicles inside.
"He said it was like the Titanic," said Westgarth.
Passengers still left at sea were hauled onto the Sir Wilfrid Laurier, a coast guard icebreaker that then helped in the search and rescue mission.
The coast guard had differing passenger lists, one with 101 passengers and another with 102. Just in case, they searched for the possible one remaining for several hours before collecting the rest of the passengers in Hartley Bay.
They set sail again to make the over-three hour voyage back to Prince Rupert. It was just over 12 hours after the Queen of the North had left Prince Rupert for its routine 8 p.m. overnight sailing.
By then, there was nothing visible at all of the ship.
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