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Teams have been searching for three missing men off the coast of Tofino after RCMP received a report of a capsized boat early yesterday morning.
Two men were located after the call at 3 a.m. yesterday, but police were told that three other men present in the tin boat were unaccounted for.
Search and Rescue, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre from 19 Wing Comox, and the Coast Guard assisted RCMP yesterday with trying to locate the missing boaters, however it has been announced that the search has been scaled back.
The search has now been left in the hands of the RCMP as a missing persons case, says the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Victoria.
After more than 18 hours of extensive searching in the water and on land, teams have not been successful in finding any trace of the men after the sinking of their boat.
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the missing,” officials said in a statement.
#SAR UPDATE 1
— MARPAC/FMAR(P) (@MARPAC_FMARP) June 15, 2018
At approx. 3 a.m. PST on June 15 #JRCC received 911 calls reporting calls for help, heard from the shore at Duffin Cove, Tofino. A #Mayday Relay was immediately issued via Prince Rupert Coast Guard Radio Ch. 16 Marine Broadband. pic.twitter.com/D24CGfTShF
“Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the missing,” officials said in a statement.
Officials said that the vessel, which was estimated at 20 feet in length, issued no mayday signal as it went down. The JRCC received multiple reports from people hearing calls for help from the shore of Duffin Cove.
The first of the two men recovered was found in the water south of Felice Island, also known as Round Island, at about a half hour after the report. The second man was able to swim ashore at Duffin Cove and was located at about 4:20 a.m. They were both transported to Emergency Health Services in Tofino.
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