A Coast Guard search in the dark, rainy waters of Pender Harbour last Saturday night ended in tragedy when a woman's body was found on Hodgson Island off Irvine's Landing.
At about 10 p.m., a 21-foot power boat crashed into the small island, hurtling a female passenger over the bow into the rocks, according to a Sunshine Coast RCMP press release. The two men on board survived the crash with injuries, including fractured ribs, and radioed the Coast Guard.
Three members of the Pender Harbour Coast Guard Auxiliary (Unit 61) Ð Jack Dennis, Ian Wright and Ray Bunt Ð were the first on scene after receiving a report of a missing woman in the water. According to Dennis, the unit leader, they brought the men and a dog that was on-board from the island's shore onto the Coast Guard boat while they searched the waters for the missing woman. "Our primary concern was the person in the water," Dennis said.
More Coast Guard boats arrived from Powell River and French Creek at about 11:30 p.m. to help with the search, according to Steve Church, Coast Guard officer at the Victoria rescue centre. The Pender Harbour crew then took the men and border collie to Madeira Park to two waiting ambulances. One of the men was eventually taken to Vancouver General Hospital, Dennis said. About two hours after the crash, the Powell River Coast Guard spotted the woman's body on the island, wearing a floater coat, Dennis said. After getting a report that the woman was found, Unit 61 then took Sunshine Coast RCMP Cpl. Barry Meyer and two paramedics out to the scene. Church said a coroner also attended.
According to Meyer, one of the men was still at VGH Monday morning with seven fractured ribs and would possibly be transferred to another hospital. The second man suffered minor injuries, Meyer said.
Police have not yet released the names of the three and continue to investigate the cause of the crash. Police were planning to haul the Campion boat, which was submerged and upside down, out of the water Monday afternoon, Meyer said.
This is the first fatality Dennis has experienced while serving with the Pender Harbour auxiliary since 1997.
