More than 100 shipping containers fell from crippled cargo ship off B.C. coast
The severity of a marine disaster off Vancouver Island is far worse than first reported, according to internal coast guard communications obtained by CTV News.
The emails sent on Tuesday evening show the cargo ship Zim Kingston's owner underestimated the number of shipping containers that fell from the vessel during a storm.
Originally, the Canadian Coast Guard reported that 40 containers fell from the ship in heavy seas and high winds Friday, but now it appears there are more than 100 containers drifting off Vancouver Island.
"The owner now believes that 109 containers were lost in the initial event," one email says.
The email also confirmed that only two of the containers are believed to have dangerous goods inside them.
The updated number comes after the owner of the vessel provided information showing 2,000 containers were on board with 1,000 on deck when two caught fire and others fell overboard as the ship approached Vancouver last week.
In a situation update Wednesday afternoon, the coast guard confirmed that 109 containers were lost.
The stricken Zim Kingston vessel remains anchored off Victoria. Shortly after the containers slipped overboard, the vessel also suffered a serious fire inside containers on the ship. The fire continues to smoulder in containers at the bottom of a large stack.
Crews attacked flare-ups inside individual containers overnight, which didn't spread, and they continued to look for hot spots on Wednesday, coast guard official Paul Barrett said.
Air quality monitoring has not found any contaminants of concern at levels that put public health at risk, provincial incident commander Zachery Scher said.
'CONTAINERS WILL HAVE ALREADY SUNK OR WILL SINK'
Deputy federal incident commander Mariah McCooey said three of the lost containers have washed up on a beach in Cape Scott on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
A flyover was planned Wednesday starting from where the containers were lost and following the path where they've been spotted and are projected to drift.
Due to vents on the containers that allow water in, the coast guard does not expect many of the boxes will be recovered.
“It is command speculation that containers will have already sunk or will sink," a coast guard email says. "Command speculation does not expect any containers to be found / recovered at this point."
The coast guard's unified command now has a list of contents from all containers identified as having gone overboard.
Contents include Christmas decorations, sofas, poker tables, metal car parts, clothing, toys, yoga mats, stand-up paddleboards, industrial parts and other miscellaneous items.
With files from The Canadian Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.