TSB is investigating the incident
Authorities are investigating the capsizing of the Fortune Pride, an 18-metre fishing vessel that overturned off the coast of eastern Nova Scotia on Thursday night, resulting in the deaths of two fishermen.
The vessel’s owner, Jose Teixeira, confirmed that Captain John Allen Baker and deckhand Phil MacInnis did not survive. Two other crew members were rescued and later released from hospital, according to a report from The Canadian Press (CP).
What happened to Fortune Pride?
The Fortune Pride was returning to harbour with a full catch of silver hake when it capsized approximately 18 kilometres southeast of Sambro, N.S. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) received an emergency beacon signal around 10 p.m. Rescuers located three crew members that night, one of whom was unconscious. The fourth was found unresponsive in a life raft the following morning.
Teixeira stated that three of the four crew members were wearing survival suits when they abandoned the vessel.
“When I communicated with them at 8:30 p.m. that night there was no sign of distress,” Teixeira told CP, according to the story posted in St. Albert Gazette.
The cause of the capsizing has not been determined.
Captain Baker was an experienced fisherman who had been in the industry since his teenage years.
“He was a guy who liked to socialise with friends. He wanted to help others in the industry in any way he could … He’s been fishing since he was a kid, probably 50 years or close to it,” Teixeira said, according to the report.
Baker had previously survived the sinking of the Gentle Lady in 2013. According to CBC News reports from 2017, the vessel sank after its load of sea cucumber shifted rapidly, causing it to take on water. Baker and his crew spent more than six hours adrift in a life raft before being rescued.
The Fortune Pride had undergone a recent inspection and was in good condition before the incident, according to Teixeira. “It was a good, seaworthy, steel boat. That boat has been at sea for a long time,” he said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has deployed a team of investigators near Halifax, Nova Scotia, to investigate the accident.
