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Jamie's Whaling Station issues statement after vessel runs aground near Tofino

“The vessel was grounded and unable to move, but the vessel was not in danger of sinking."
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The roughly 13-metre Stellar Sea

Jamie's Whaling Station has issued a statement regarding its wildlife-watching vessel the Stellar Sea running aground on Saturday evening. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The roughly 13-metre wildlife watching vessel was out for Jamie's final bear watching tour of the day on Saturday, when it ran aground around 5:45 p.m., according to the statement issued by the company at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The vessel was travelling at slow speed at the time of the incident, on inside, sheltered waters in Clayoquot Sound,” the statement reads adding 26 passengers and 2 crewmembers were onboard the vessel.

Because the vessel could not continue with its voyage, all passengers were transferred onto other company vessels that were in the vicinity and safely returned to Tofino. Refunds were provided to all passengers and some passengers were booked onto other tours today.”

The statement denies the vessel ever partially sunk, as was reported earlier today.

Some early media reports today have suggested the Stellar Sea partially sank as a result of this incident. We can confirm that did not occur,” it reads.

The vessel was grounded and unable to move, but the vessel was not in danger of sinking, and none of the passengers or crew requested medical attention as a result of the incident. As a precautionary measure a boom was also deployed around the vessel in case of any fuel or oil leakage, but no spillage has or is expected to occur.”

Jamie's resumed normal operations Sunday and expects the Stellar Sea to be repaired and back on the water soon.

We expect the vessel to be returned to port shortly,” the statement reads.

 

 



Andrew Bailey

About the Author: Andrew Bailey

I arrived at the Westerly News as a reporter and photographer in January 2012.
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