Search Called Off for Six Missing After Charter Boat Sinks Near Vancouver

Photo Source: Royal Canadian Marine Search & Rescue - Richmond

Canadian search and rescue teams have ended their hunt for six people who went missing after a charter vessel sank off the coast near Vancouver on Sunday. Officials announced Monday evening that the four men and two women still unaccounted for are now presumed to have drowned.

A Chaotic Rescue at Sea

The emergency began around 11:45 a.m. local time, when a distress call reported people in the water roughly 10 miles offshore, none of them wearing life jackets. The charter boat had started taking on water near Roberts Bank after setting out from Steveston, a long-established fishing community in Richmond, British Columbia.

What followed was a large-scale rescue effort involving Canadian Coast Guard vessels, Royal Canadian Mounted Police boats, helicopters, airplanes, and even nearby passenger ferries that joined the search.

Three people were pulled from the water by a couple sailing nearby, and official search crews recovered a fourth survivor. By Monday, the head of the rescue operation told CBC News that teams had searched the area thoroughly and were confident they had exhausted every option for finding anyone still alive on the surface.

The Sailing Couple Who Stepped In

Brian Angus and Dorothy Stauffer were out on their sailboat when they came upon the scene and ended up saving three lives. They told CBC they spotted no wreckage or floating debris nearby, and that everyone they found in the water was without a life jacket.

More than a day later, the experience was still weighing on them. Stauffer said she'd barely slept, her mind replaying the rescue throughout the night, and credited her background as a flight attendant with helping her stay composed in the moment. Angus, reflecting on the timing, said how relieved he was that they happened to be there when it counted.

Despite their efforts, the couple expressed deep sadness that they couldn't save more people from the water.

What's Still Unknown

Investigators have not released the name of the sunken vessel, referring to it only as a commercial charter boat. The cause of the sinking also remains a mystery — Major Gregory Clarke, who oversees the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Victoria, told CBC that authorities currently have no explanation for what went wrong.

Clarke also told the Vancouver Sun that rescuers initially struggled to communicate with survivors due to a language barrier, made more difficult by the effects of hypothermia. Eventually, however, the survivors were able to confirm that 10 people had been aboard the boat when it went down.

The identities of the six people still missing have not been released.

Recovery Efforts Ahead

The RCMP confirmed that an underwater recovery team will head to the site in the coming days, using sonar technology to try to locate the capsized boat. Once it's found, investigators will determine whether the wreck is shallow enough for divers to reach it, or whether a drone will be needed instead — the RCMP noted the vessel is believed to have sunk in very deep water.

The Survivors

Of the four people pulled from the water, a 26-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman have since been released from the hospital. Two others, a 33-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman, remain hospitalized in critical condition.

As the search shifts from rescue to recovery, authorities say more details about the cause of the sinking — and the identities of those lost — are expected in the coming days.