January 8, 1993 64 pages | Fin Sieh a eee dele Oe Office, Editorial 985-2131 Coast guard investigating accident that injured eight ‘people aboard transit ferry EIGHT. PEOPLE were injured Wednesday when the Bur- rard Beaver SeaBus struck Canada Place on Burrard Inlet’s south shore. ; The mishap occurred after. the BC . Transit ferry changed its course in thick fog. ; . According to SeaBus passenger Leslie McClelland, the crash hap- pened a few minutes after the ferry departed from the south «> terminal. “It was very foggy. | was sitting : beside a girl who was just saying - to her friend, ‘Boy, 1 hope they have a radar on this thing.’ Just before it crashed, somebody yelled uit, ‘Brace yourself.’ Everybody went fiying,”’ McClelland said. "Just. prior to the collision, Mc- _ Clelland ‘saw “what she thought looked like a barge. “It was. in the front left win- _ dow. It looked like we were com- ‘ing awfully close.to this thing, but _I trusted that. they. knew where By Michael Becker News Reporter - 112-foot ferry, struck Canada Place at its east ship berth area. Said Don Redmond, North Vancouver transit. and SeaBus manager, ‘‘We are of the under- standing that another vessel was inbound, and we changed course not to cross paths and ended up where we had the incident.”” Said Redmond, ‘‘I’m not sure whether Sealink (a Royal Sealink Express ferry) was on schedule. | ‘*‘Normal!ly speaking we wouldn’t cross paths when’ we are leaving. We set it up from the ini- tial start of their operation so that conflicts wouldn't take place.’* But’ said Sealink vice-president NEWS phote Terry Paters BC TRANSIT SeaBus manager Don Redmond met with reporters . to discuss the Burrard Beaver’s accident on Wedenesday. The. ; -mishap occurred after the ferry changed its course in thick fog... they were going.’ She braced "Rersetf and the ferry hit hard. . , : “I slipped out of the seat and ‘up and ended up on the floor on - my back,”’ she said. Added McClelland, . ‘‘My first : thought after that was, ‘Is this “thing going to sink?’, ”’ The. ferry made its way back to" 7 the south terminal,! where four of | i the injured. were transported to St. ‘ Paul’s Hospital. “The. ferry. sounded sort of i it changed direction several At had real! trouble getting ‘into its spot,” said Mc- en he. SeaBus has the “ov Capacity: to carry “400° passengers, only -121 ‘were aboard ‘when the _ lent Harald Ronning, ‘‘From the reports {1 have received from our captain, the SeaBus ferry passed behind our vessel heading towards Canada Place at the time when we were just about mooring.’ “The Sealink and SeaBus ferries share a marine terminal located on the south side of Burrard Inlet. Redmond called the. arrange- “‘safe.?" He said the SeaBus ferry was on - schedule when it departed at 7:45 am. Redmond” added that the SeaBus:and Sealink passenger. fer- ties communicate with each other directly, but. he said he did not know :if the two vessels were in| * See SeaBus page 3 Test drive the new Eagle Vision - Cougar captur A YOUNG COUGAR, originally spotted” in the back yard of 4595 Prospect Rd. in North. Van- | couver, was captured by wildlife control officers on Wednesday. Vern Hendricks holds down ‘the five-month-old cat while waiting. for a tranquillizer to take effect. The: extremely thin | animal was taken to the Vancouver Game Farm.