A crew member was airlifted to hospital after a Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue boat ran aground off Sooke Harbour Thursday night.

The RCM SAR Fast Response Boat went aground at around 9:30 p.m. during a night training exercise near Sooke Harbour's Christie Point, not to be confused with Christie Point in Portage Inlet. 

christie point

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel and another SAR rescue boat responded as well as BC Emergency Health Services and East Sooke Fire Department.

Four people on the boat were rescued from the boat and one member was transported to a Victoria hospital by air ambulance.

The remaining three crew members were sent to hospital via ground ambulance.

On Friday, RCM SAR thanked the public for their "positive energy, thoughts and prayers" sent to the injured crew members as well as the first responders who took care of them.

"We have met with or been in contact with all the immediate families involved and expressed the great concern and fellowship that so many have passed on," the organization wrote on Twitter. "Our colleagues are in good hands and are receiving follow up support from RCMSAR and our partners in the Canadian Coast Guard."

The training was not related to recent multi-agency search and rescue training that took place earlier in the week, according to JRCC.