At least five people were injured — including one person who was airlifted to a Vancouver hospital — when a passenger ferry slammed into a dock on Mayne Island yesterday morning.
The Queen of Nanaimo, which services the Tsawwassen-Southern Gulf Islands Route, experienced a “hard landing” at 7:35 a.m. as it approached the Village Bay ferry terminal with 193 passengers aboard.
Mike Corrigan, B.C. Ferries’ chief operating officer, did not know how fast the vessel was travelling, but did say the captain dropped both anchors as he approached.
He did not know how far from the dock the anchors were deployed.
At least four passengers and one crew member were injured.
The most serious injury was a head trauma or concussion that required the victim to be flown to Vancouver General Hospital.
Both the vessel and the terminal sustained minor damage.
B.C. Ferries has launched an internal investigation, although Corrigan said rope tangled around the propellers may have caused the crew to lose control of the ferry before it crashed.
Transport Canada will also investigate.
