3 people still missing after boat capsizes near Tofino

Three people are missing and two are safe after a small boat capsized near Tofino, B.C., Friday morning.

A search was launched around 3 a.m. PT after several 911 callers reported hearing calls for help from the water near Duffin Cove, according to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Victoria.

The Canadian Coast Guard was called out and managed to find one person and pull them from the water.

A second person who managed to swim to shore on their own was picked up by RCMP.

Both were taken to hospital in Tofino and released earlier this morning.

The search for the three missing people continues, though on Friday night  the JRCC said it was reducing the size of the search.

'Help! Help! Help!

Simon Allison, who has lived in Tofino for over 13 years, said he was awoken at around 2:30 a.m. to the sound of screaming.

"I woke up to somebody shouting "Help! Help! Help! Help!" he said.

Thinking someone might be under attack by a bear or cougar, he grabbed a buck knife and hurried outside. But after following  the screams to Duffin's Bay, he realized the person yelling was in the water, and he called 911.

He said after search and rescue arrived, one person was pulled from the water and bundled up in blankets before being taken to hospital.

Allison then decided to walk along the shore and see if he heard anything else.

"I had a brief moment of grief where I just thought, I think somebody's died here today and then I heard the cry for help again."

Allison said he came across a man who was "traumatized and hypothermic," who appeared to have swum to shore and climbed up a steep, rocky area. The RCMP came and retrieved him shortly afterwards and he was taken to hospital.

Allison said he knows two of the people who are still missing.

"Really good guys," he said. "I can't stress just how much impact this is going to have on the community," he said.

Missing fishermen from First Nation

RCMP have confirmed the vessel was a small 'tin' boat, but officials have released no details about who was in the open boat or where they are from.

But Ahousaht Chief Greg Louie said he was told the missing boaters are fishermen from another First Nations community in the area.

"We have about half a dozen boats involved in the search," said Louie.

Luke Swan, also from Ahousaht, was out on one of the boats searching since he first got a call at 6 a.m. PT. He said the boat involved could have been halibut fishing at the time it capsized.

"I know they are from Tla-o-qui-aht [First Nation]," said Swan, adding it remains unclear what happened to the boat — but he says he saw fishing debris scattered across the water.

Winds, waves and currents

In a statement, Tofino mayor Josie Osborne said the communities of Tla-o-qui-aht and Tofino are working together to search for the missing men.

"We hold all of them in our thoughts and we are hoping and praying for the best," the statement read in part.

Melissa Kai of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria said the search area has been expanded because of strong currents in the region.

"The initial mayday was reporting a call for help near Duffin Cove. However, the winds, waves and currents in this area are quite at play," said Kai.

"When you look at the currents around Duffin Cove, you are talking around three to four knots. So the drift pattern for this could be very close to Vargas Island, all the way down the coast of Tofino."

With files from Jodi Muzylowski and Tanya Fletcher

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