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Survivor recounts fatal sinking of fishing boat near Campbell River

The sole survivor of a fishing accident early Saturday morning told his boss that he managed to climb over the boat’s railing as it rolled over and he thinks his crewmates, who are presumed drowned, became trapped in the lower level of the boat.

The sole survivor of a fishing accident early Saturday morning told his boss that he managed to climb over the boat’s railing as it rolled over and he thinks his crewmates, who are presumed drowned, became trapped in the lower level of the boat.

Kyle Benoit had gone down to the sleeping quarters to change when his captain, 34-year-old Barry Sewid, yelled that the boat was taking on water and to get above deck.

The captain issued a mayday at 2:48 a.m., as the 20-metre steel landing craft was five kilometres north of Campbell River.

“When [Benoit] came back up, the boat rolled. He was pushed out the door by Barry,” said Harold Sewid, who owns Qwe’qwa’Sot’em Faith Aquaculture Ltd. “He climbed up the railing and got onto the keel until the boat sank.”

Benoit grabbed onto some debris and held on until he was rescued almost immediately by a Zodiac launched from an Alaskan ferry.

The bodies of Barry Sewid and 29-year-old Mike Kelly, both married fathers of small children, have not yet been found.

“We’re trying to find two lost boys and trying to understand why it happened,” said an emotional Harold Sewid, who is the uncle of Barry Sewid and also a First Nations hereditary clan chief. “There’s no answers to a lot of questions right now.”

Just before the boat rolled, Benoit told his boss, he saw Kelly, a deckhand, heading up the ladder from down below but heard him scream, making Benoit think the water pressure pushed him back down. Benoit said it’s possible his captain went down the ladder to help Kelly and became trapped as water rushed in.

“He’s in shock, so he remembers very little,” Harold Sewid said.

Victim services is helping Benoit and the families of the two missing men, Campbell River RCMP said.

“Barry’s passion was he loved being on the boat. He loved being outdoors and he loved fishing,” his uncle said. Barry Sewid and his partner have a son and a daughter.

Kelly’s fiancée spent a long time on Sunday looking out at the water where the boat capsized, Sewid said. The couple also has two children.

Many in the First Nations community got together for a dinner Sunday night, where tears were shed.

The fishermen’s families “are doing as well as could be expected,” Sewid said.

Sewid, a fourth-generation fisherman, said finding the bodies is important in bringing closure to the families.

A remote-operated underwater vehicle was deployed Sunday to locate the landing craft, which is under roughly 75 metres of water, about 800 metres north of a dock at the old Elk Falls mill.

RCMP divers were unable to search the waters as planned Monday afternoon because of choppy seas. Divers are expected to resume the search today.

Sewid said his fishing crew is very tight-knit, either family members or people who quickly become like family. He said many crew members call him “pops” or “dad.”

“I fished all of my life and this is the first accident that has taken a life from my family,” he said.

He said all three crew members were well-trained in emergency marine protocols.

Even more puzzling is that the winds were calm and there was a low swell at the time the boat capsized.

Campbell River RCMP confirmed weather was not a factor.

Built in 1988, the steel landing craft Atlantic Harvester 1 was a support vessel for Campbell River-based salmon farm company Marine Harvest Canada.

Sewid said he has been using the vessel for about 15 years and it has withstood many heavy storms.

“It just does not make any sense,” he said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada  and Worksafe B.C. are investigating what caused the vessel to capsize.

— With files from Cindy E. Harnett