2 crew members dead after fishing boat capsizes near Halifax, 2 others released from hospital

Two crew members are dead after their fishing boat capsized late Thursday off Halifax amid four-metre waves and strong winds.

Two others who were pulled from the frigid waters after the 18-metre Fortune Pride foundered have been released from hospital.

Jose Teixeira, whose company owns the vessel, confirmed in a brief interview with CBC News that Capt. John Allen Baker was one of the deceased.

He said the vessel's deckhand also died.

Three crew members were pulled from the water on Thursday night and one at 11:30 a.m. AT Friday, according to Kelsey Marshall of the Canadian Coast Guard.

"It was not a good day to be out on the water, for sure," said Marshall, who said the water temperature was about 2 C.

Emergency beacon 

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Halifax said it responded to an emergency beacon at around 10 p.m. AT Thursday. The location of the beacon was approximately 18 kilometres southeast of Sambro, N.S.

"The vessel itself was unable to get a radio call out, so the first indication we had was that emergency beacon … it was registered, so we were able to contact the right people that were associated with that registration and find out what was going on and how many people were on board," Marshall said.

Two coast guard vessels, the CCGS Hare Bay and the CCGS Sir William Alexander, were involved in the rescue efforts, in addition to a Cormorant helicopter and a Hercules fixed-wing aircraft, said the JRCC.

Marshall said the first three people who were rescued were unable to articulate what happened.

She said while the crew was able to get the life-raft off the Fortune Pride, they weren't able to get on it because of rough seas.

Rescuers did not see the fishing vessel when they arrived on scene, Marshall said.

"The float-free beacon would have deployed as soon as the boat sank so that was our only indication that the vessel was in trouble," Marshall said.

The JRCC said the fourth missing person was found on a life-raft Friday morning and was transported to hospital via a Cormorant helicopter.

The individual was "unfortunately unresponsive" when taken aboard the aircraft, said Lt.-Cmdr. Len Hickey, JRCC senior public affairs officer.

The JRCC previously told CBC News the CCGS Hare Bay had "recovered" three other crew members, two conscious and the third unconscious. They were all taken to hospital.

3 crew members had survival suits

Marshall said the fourth person who was found was in the life-raft that had overturned. She said the three members who were found Thursday night were wearing survival suits.

"And that was a contributing factor to why they were found alive and able to be brought on board," Marshall said. "The fourth member did not have a survival suit on."

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Friday it will deploy a team of investigators to investigate the accident.

Marshall said she didn't know all the details of the fishing trip, but did confirm the vessel had left from Sambro.