The captain of a whale-watching boat that sank off the west coast of Vancouver Island, killing five people and leaving one man missing, says his prayers are with those affected by the tragedy.
Wayne Dolby, in a statement released on Friday through Jamie's Whaling Station – the company in Tofino, B.C., that ran the whale-watching tour – said the passengers and crew showed tremendous "courage and heroism" as the boat went under on Sunday afternoon.
"To the families, friends and loved ones of those who did not come home, I want to express my heartfelt sympathies and I pray your grief for their loss will not stay with you as long as it will stay with me," the statement read.
On Thursday afternoon, mourners related to the British citizens who died and an Australian who is still missing met at a memorial on the dock where rescue operations were staged.
Mr. Dolby had more than 20 years of whale-watching experience in the area, 18 with Jamie's Whaling Station.
On Friday, Corene Inouye, director of operations at the company, issued a separate statement thanking those that have offered help since the accident, which "will be remembered as a very dark day in the history of Jamie's Whaling Station."
"I would also like to once again express our most heartfelt thank you for the overwhelming comfort and support that has been provided during this horrible time," Ms. Inouye's statement read. "Through this tragedy we have been reminded of the strength, perseverance, and selflessness of our community."
The company has spent the week helping investigators and reaching out to the surviving passengers as well as the families and loved ones of those who drowned, she said.
Mr. Dolby and the two other crew members on the Leviathan II that day remain "extremely devastated by what happened – in particular that they were unable to save all on board," her statement added.
The boat was re-floated on Thursday and towed to a secure area near Tofino and is being monitored by the RCMP, Marc-André Poisson, director of marine investigations for the Transportation Safety Board, said on Friday.
The board's investigators have left the area, taking the ship's GPS unit with them, but a team of experts will return to conduct a thorough examination of the vessel.
The initial findings of a Transportation Safety Board investigation suggest the vessel capsized after a wave struck its starboard side when passengers were crowded onto the port side of the upper viewing deck.
The Leviathan II was built in 1981 to carry employees of a logging company up and down the coast. In 1996, Jamie's Whaling Station had it lengthened and added an observation deck.
After the modification, Transport Canada approved a stability assessment of the boat conducted by the company. The department has also stated that the 46-passenger vessel had passed each of its annual inspections since 1998 – when the current owner started using it to watch whales – including its most recent one in March.
Ms. Inouye's statement on Friday stressed the seaworthiness of the company's vessels and the stringent drills and certification required of crew.
"Jamie's would never have allowed a single passenger or anyone else to be on the water in a vessel that we were not absolutely confident was safe," the statement said.
Mr. Poisson said his agency will eventually do its own stability assessment of the damaged vessel, including an incline experiment in which weights are moved around to determine its centre of gravity and test its ability to tilt without capsizing.
The TSB investigation is expected to take months, but if any safety deficiencies are identified, the board will make that information public and alert Transport Canada and the whale-watching tourism industry, he added.
Mike Hager