Deadly East Coast shipwreck sparks human-smuggling investigation

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One person has died and three more are feared dead in what's being described as a possible human-smuggling venture into Canada gone badly awry.

A dramatic nighttime search-and-rescue mission also managed to save lives, pulling passengers from a sinking, yacht spotted amid flurries, fog and stormy waters off the coast of Nova Scotia. Of a total of nine people believed to have been aboard the ship, only five survivors were found – one passenger died and three are missing.

The nationality and names of the survivors, described as Eastern Europeans who had not set foot in Canada previously, were not released. They had been travelling aboard a sailing vessel known as the SV Tabasco 2.

Police are speaking to the survivors in hospital. "We're at the preliminary stages of the investigation," said RCMP Sergeant Tom Murdock, adding that he could not release details.

Officials with the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency said on Tuesday that it's too early to say whether the probe might evolve into a human-smuggling investigation. Yet their boss, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, immediately seized on the event to draw attention to a government bill designed to crack down on gangs sneaking people into Canada.

"There is an enormous and unnecessary risk involved with the act of human smuggling," Mr. Toews said in a statement.

The tragedy unfolded during a dramatic Coast Guard and Canadian Forces rescue mission about 150 nautical kilometres south of Cape Sable Island.

A Cormorant helicopter crew from 14 Wing Greenwood in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley happened to be out on a night training exercise when it was called to rescue people who were in difficulty on a local lake.

That rescue went smoothly, and the crew got another mayday call around 3 a.m. Arriving at the ocean site, they found the yacht – a beaten up, small vessel about 35 feet long – in conditions that included snow squalls, darkness, high winds and 15-metre swells.

A Hercules plane dropped illumination flares down. A survivor was spotted on the stern, waving a flare. The Cormorant lowered one of its crew members down to assess the situation.

"It was quite a rescue. The pilot said this was the hardest rescue they encountered given the sea state," said Captain John Pulchny of 14 Wing Greenwood. "He found three people on board, two were responsive, a bit bruised, minor injuries,"

The three passengers were hoisted up and flown to a hospital in Yarmouth. One man was declared dead on arrival.

Later a commercial tanker rescued three other boat passengers and brought them to shore.

Late Tuesday, rescue crews began abandoning hope of finding survivors.

"The search has been reduced," said Major Paule Poulin of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Center in Halifax. "… Basically any hope for their survival has diminished considerably."

Lieutenant Edward Stansfield of the joint rescue centre in Halifax said authorities don't know why the SV Tabasco 2 was where it was found. "Frankly, we don't care where they are from and where they're going, our job is to find them and rescue them. So that's what we're doing."