Sunken B.C. Ferry Report to be Released September

The Transportation Safety Board hopes to have its final report on the sinking of the B.C. Ferries vessel Queen of the North ready by September, the National Union of Public and General Employees reported. Officials with the board are apparently anxious to establish a faster standard for issuing major reports by getting this one out within six months rather than waiting a year or longer to complete its work, as has often happened in the past. The March 22 incident claimed two lives when the ferry sank after ramming rocks at Gill Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Ninety-nine passengers, including 42 crew members, escaped, many aided by residents in the nearby coastal community of Hartley Bay. The writing of the report is scheduled to start this week. The board's role is to assess circumstances surrounding the sinking and to report on safety lessons to be learned from it. A preliminary board assessment associated the sinking with inadequate training of crew members by B.C. Ferries, the agency that runs the West Coast ferry system for the B.C. government. (Source: National Union of Public and General Employees)