[darkpuppet]

from the canoe website..

Quote:VANCOUVER (CP) - Rescuers plucked dozens of people from lifeboats off B.C.'s Queen Charlotte Islands early Wednesday after a large ferry ran aground and sank in choppy seas.

All 102 people aboard were accounted for according to the Capt. Leah Byrne. She said the vessel ran aground, began listing and then went under. Byrne, of the Search and Rescue Centre in Victoria, said the Queen of the North was sailing south to Port Hardy from Prince Rupert, a 450-kilometre trip along what's known as B.C.'s Inside Passage, a series of islands just off the north coast of the province.

The 125-metre-long vessel is reported to be completely submerged about 135 kilometres from Prince Rupert.

"The joint rescue co-ordination centre dispatched a large number of assets to the scene, including a cormorant helicopter and buffalo aircraft," she said.

Unconfirmed reports said fishing trawlers also responded to the initial call and helped in the rescue. Seas were reported to be choppy and winds were blowing at about 75 kilometres per hour.

"From what we hear, it took about an hour for the ship to sink so most of the people did manage to get onto lifeboats," she said. "There was an orderly evacuation of personnel from the vessel, including passengers and crew."

Most of the survivors were taken to a community centre in Hartley Bay while others were kept aboard a Coast Guard ship.

Nicole Robinson, a receptionist at the nursing station in Hartley Bay, said she talked to several members of the ferry's crew who were sleeping when the ship began to take on water.

"They heard a loud bang like it grinded a bit and they said the cabin started filling with water," she said.

Some people were hurt, but not seriously, said Robinson. Many were "stunned."

"We've just had a few patients come and go, minor injuries, the community all got together with blankets, everybody's pretty cold but they're all down at a community hall," Robinson said.

According to the B.C. Ferries website, the ship was built in Germany in 1969 and refitted in 2001. It can hold up to 700 people and 115 cars.