The owner of a whale watching ship that sank off Tofino killing five British nationals — another person remains missing — his entire team is heartbroken.
A tour boat with 24 passengers and three crew members on board capsized on Sunday afternoon about 15 kilometres northwest of Tofino.
The search for one person who remains missing was called off Sunday night and the RCMP was handling it as a missing-person case.
Jamie Bray, owner of Jamie’s Whaling Station and Adventure Station, posted a statement overnight.
“It has been a tragic day,” Bray wrote. “Our entire team is heartbroken over this incident and our hearts go out to the families, friends and loved ones of everyone involved.”
Bray said the company, one of the longest-standing tour companies in Tofino, is doing everything it can to assist passengers and staff and is co-operating with investigators to determine exactly what happened.
“In the meantime, we want to extend our most sincere thank you to the first responders, rescue personnel, and everyone from Tofino and the local First Nations communities who assisted with the response efforts,” Bray said.
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- files from Canadian Press
