Six feared dead after ‘bizarre’ sinking of charter boat off Canadian coast

Search teams in Canada have launched a recovery effort for six people believed to have drowned in a “bizarre” sinking of a fishing charter off the coast of Vancouver. Police and rescue crews praised a couple who were passing in their yacht for making a critical mayday call and saving stranded passengers by pulling them onboard their craft. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said its underwater team was preparing to search for the vessel. It is believed to have been carrying 10 people before it took on water and disappeared into the depths of the Georgia strait close to where fresh river water meets the ocean, creating hazardous survival conditions. Two survivors, a man, 33, and a woman, 28, were in a critical condition. Another man, 26, and woman, 33, were discharged from hospital. Little is known of what unfolded on the boat, which departed from the community of Steveston and sank around midday on Sunday. Officials said none of the passengers were wearing lifejackets and there was no mayday call from the charter. Stephen Adam, an operations manager with Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, said the incident was “bizarre” because the boat had sunk so quickly and had not issued a distress call. He said he did not “have any details of the type of vessel it was, why it went out, where it came from”. When rescue teams arrived the boat had sunk. …