British Columbia

3 killed when fishing boat capsized north of Tofino ID'd by coroner

Commercial fishing boat capsized Saturday night, killing three of its four crew members.

The Caledonian capsized off Estevan Point north of Tofino Saturday night, killing 3 of 4 crew

The Caledonian capsized Saturday in waters north of Tofino with four crew members aboard. Only one survived. (Eric Sorenson/MarineTraffic.com)

The BC Coroners Service has identified the three fishermen who died following the capsizing of their commercial fishboat Saturday night north of Tofino.

  • Wesley Hagglund, 55 of Duncan, was the skipper of the vessel.
  • Keith Edward Standing, 48, of Port Alberni, was the engineer.
  • Doug White, 41, of Port Alberni was a deckhand.

The Caledonian, owned by Pacific Seafood, capsized Saturday night, at about 8 pm. PT, 55 km west of Estevan Point on the west coast of Vancouver Island. A fourth crew member survived and was rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard.

The BC Coroners Service, RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board are continuing to investigate the deaths. The weather conditions were not bad at the time of the capsizing, with light winds and one-metre seas, according to the TSB.

In total, six B.C. fishermen have been killed on the water this year — the largest number of deaths in the industry in a decade, said the TSB.