2 men, 1 dog rescued after boat capsizes off B.C. coast

Two men and their dog were rescued on Thursday after their boat capsized off the coast of Powell River, B.C.

At about 3 p.m. PT on March 30, rescuers responded to a 911 call from an 87-year-old man and his son, reporting that their boat had flipped about 800 metres west of Powell River, located on the B.C. mainland about 40 kilometres east of Courtenay on Vancouver Island and 170 kilometres north of Vancouver. 

The men had been out fishing when their boat's motor died, and their boat subsequently flipped in rough seas. Both men and their dog ended up in the frigid Pacific Ocean. 

They were in the water for 45 minutes, but eventually, the current brought them to shore, where they were stranded — and hypothermic. 

Lt.-Col. Jean Leroux,  the commanding officer at 442 Squadron in Comox, said that, luckily, they had a waterproof pocket for a cell phone, so they were able to call for help. 

Responders in a helicopter were able to spot them and lowered a basket down to the rocky shoreline to bring the pair, and their dog, up.

Leroux immediately began administering first aid, trying to warm them up.

"We also had the heat pumping to the max inside the cabin to ensure that they could warm up," Leroux told CBC's On The Coast guest host Michelle Eliot. 

"The elderly gentleman had stopped shivering. That's how cold he was, and his son was still in the shivering state."

They were taken to 19 Wing Comox, a Canadian Forces base, where search and rescue technician Jeremy Kerr was waiting for them. 

"We had everyone preparing all our hypothermia equipment and medical equipment," he said.

Their wet clothing was removed, and they were given hypothermia wraps before they were taken to the local hospital.

"When we dropped them off at the Comox hospital yesterday [Thursday], they were trending in a positive direction," Kerr said.

However, their dog was unable to be cared for at the hospital. Leroux said a military police officer offered to take the dog home to care for it while the men recovered in hospital, and it was returned to its owners Friday morning.

Now, Leroux is reminding people heading out on the waters to be prepared for emergencies like this one. 

A life jacket, a waterproofed means of communication like a radio or a phone and communicating your plans to loved ones are all high on the list of measures people can take before they take to the sea.

"The more rapidly we know about the case, the more positive outcome that we can have because those first hours are absolutely key," he said.

"In this case, we got alerted, and within an hour, those people were actually brought back."