A 90-year-old man is dead after the vehicle he was in sped off the ramp at the Mill Bay ferry terminal Friday morning and sank.
The man was pronounced dead at the ferry terminal after his vehicle was pulled from the ocean, about seven hours after it went into the water. His name has not been released.
RCMP and B.C. Ferries said the vehicle, a white SUV, smashed through a closed steel gate, went at high speed down a trestle before leaving the ramp, which was raised at an angle, and hitting the water. The incident happened about 8:10 a.m., about five minutes after the ferry had left.
Ernie Harry, who lives near the ferry terminal, said the vehicle smashed through a steel gate, hit the already raised ramp, launched into the air, struck a nearby wall, then hit the water upside down and sank immediately.
“There was a real big splash,” Harry said.
The vehicle must have started accelerating a fair distance from the terminal, he said, estimating that it was going about 100 kilometres an hour when it smashed though the gate.
Lucy Daniels, whose home overlooks the Mill Bay terminal, said she was standing outside her back door when she noticed a fast-moving white car.
“He was driving really fast, as if he was on the highway, and he just went though the gate,” Daniels said.
The 19-year-old called to her mother to dial 911 and ran down to the dock to see if anybody had escaped.
“I looked in the water and didn’t see anything or anybody,” she said. “I just saw gas stuff and a few bubbles.”
Shortly after 3 p.m., divers from RCMP West Coast Marine Services and Vancouver Island District Underwater Recovery retrieved the sunken vehicle, which had veteran licence plates, and removed the body of the man.
An inflatable bladder was attached to the vehicle to float it to the surface. A tow truck pulled it to the beach.
Capt. Jamie Marshall, B.C. Ferries vice-president of fleet operations, said reports indicate the incident was “a deliberate act.”
“[The vehicle] broke through a secured, steel barrier and went up over an apron that was fully stowed in the upright position,” Marshall said.
The M.V. Klitsa had departed and was between 1.5 and three kilometres from the terminal when it received word of the incident from RCMP and turned around.
The Canadian Coast Guard was also alerted and dispatched a hovercraft to the scene.
Ferry passenger Sharlene Quinn of Mill Bay was en route to Brentwood Bay when she noticed something was amiss.
Quinn said the crew suddenly began moving with a new, more serious energy. A few crew members launched a Zodiac-style boat and sped back to the Mill Bay terminal. The remaining crew cleared a space at one end of the deck, where they positioned medical gear such as stretchers and first-aid kits.
“They weren’t panicked,” Quinn said. “They were actually very calm, but you could see they were definitely responding to an emergency.”
B.C. Ferries cancelled Friday’s sailings between Mill Bay and Brentwood Bay. Service is set to resume Saturday morning.
In May 2013, a 32-year-old Gabriola Island woman drove off the dock on Gabriola and drowned. In May 2011, a 29-year-old West Shore man drove a pickup off the upper deck at Swartz Bay and drowned.
