A charter boat sank in British Columbia’s Georgia Strait on Sunday, leaving four rescued and six still missing after the vessel began taking on water near Roberts Bank. The B.C. RCMP said it is believed that 10 people were aboard when the distress call went out around 11:45 a.m. PT, and a multi-agency air-and-sea search was still underway into Sunday evening for the people who never made it out of the water, as the four rescued and six still missing in the Georgia Strait.
One of the four people pulled from the water was taken to hospital in critical condition, and the other three were in stable condition, according to B.C. Emergency Health Services. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said it was first notified by a civilian vessel of “several people in the water without personal flotation devices,” the kind of alert that pulls a wide response in the southern Strait. The search for the remaining six, the cause of the sinking, and the names of those aboard had not been made public as of Sunday night.
What Happened in the Georgia Strait on Sunday
The distress call came from a stretch of water about 10 nautical miles southwest of Vancouver International Airport, in the Roberts Bank area, at around 11:45 a.m. PT. The RCMP said it believed 10 people were aboard the boat when it started taking on water. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) was notified by a civilian vessel, at roughly the same moment, of “several people in the water without personal flotation devices,” a detail that helps explain why a single small-craft call brought helicopters, a hovercraft, and passenger ferries into the same patch of water within hours.
By 3:15 p.m. PT, the JRCC said four people had been taken to the Sea Island Coast Guard Station and transferred to paramedics. The rescue tally, however, did not end the operation. The search continued for the six others believed to still be in the water. The RCMP said the cause of the incident remained unknown, and the circumstances were still under investigation.
| Time (PT) | Event |
|---|---|
| ~11:45 a.m. | Charter boat begins taking on water near Roberts Bank; JRCC notified by a civilian vessel of “several people in the water without personal flotation devices.” |
| Midday | JRCC deploys CH-149 Cormorant and CC-295 Kingfisher from Comox, Coast Guard Hovercraft Siyay, Main Lifeboat Station Ganges, an RCMP Black Hawk, an H145 Airbus, and two RCMP vessels. |
| ~2 p.m. | B.C. Ferries clears the Queen of Alberni and Coastal Inspiration from the scene; other assets continue the search. |
| 3:15 p.m. | JRCC confirms four people taken to the Sea Island Coast Guard Station and transferred to paramedics; six still believed to be in the water. |
The Multi-Agency Response That Followed
The JRCC alert pulled aircraft, vessels, and auxiliary rescue resources from Comox and from points around the Strait into one coordinated operation. For readers unfamiliar with the acronym, how JRCC Victoria runs Western Canada search and rescue is laid out on a federal explainer page that also names Comox as a launch base.
From Comox, B.C., the JRCC sent a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher fixed-wing aircraft. The Canadian Coast Guard added its Hovercraft Siyay and Main Lifeboat Station Ganges, plus auxiliary rescue resources. The RCMP contributed two of its own vessels, an RCMP Black Hawk helicopter, and an H145 Airbus helicopter. Together, that gave the search rotor, fixed-wing, hovercraft, and surface coverage over the same square miles of water southwest of the airport, a layered response that is the routine shape of a JRCC-led marine SAR mission in this part of the coast.
By the JRCC’s 3:15 p.m. PT update, four people had been pulled from the water and brought to the Sea Island Coast Guard Station, where paramedics took over. One of those four was hospitalized in critical condition; the other three were in stable condition. The same update, however, made clear that the operation was still active: a search for six more people believed to be in the water was ongoing.
| Asset | Type | Operator / Base |
|---|---|---|
| CH-149 Cormorant | Helicopter | JRCC, Comox |
| CC-295 Kingfisher | Fixed-wing aircraft | JRCC, Comox |
| Hovercraft Siyay | Hovercraft | Canadian Coast Guard |
| Main Lifeboat Station Ganges | Lifeboat | Canadian Coast Guard |
| RCMP Black Hawk | Helicopter | RCMP |
| H145 Airbus | Helicopter | RCMP |
| Two RCMP vessels | Patrol vessels | RCMP |
Two B.C. Ferries Turned Around to Help
Two of B.C. Ferries’ larger vessels, the Queen of Alberni and the Coastal Inspiration, were diverted from the Tsawwassen-Duke Point route to join the search. For travellers trying to figure out whether their own crossing was caught up in the response, live Tsawwassen-Duke Point sailing conditions from B.C. Ferries carry the current schedule for the same route the two diverted ships were running when the captain came on the PA.
Natasha Jung and her family were aboard the Queen of Alberni when the captain told passengers the ferry was joining the search. Jung said that when the vessel stopped, a sailboat was already nearby, circling the scene and appearing to be helping. A hovercraft and a helicopter arrived quickly after that and began circling the same area. B.C. Ferries said the two ferries did not physically retrieve anyone from the water themselves and were cleared to depart around 2 p.m. PT, as dedicated rescue assets took over.
What Jung saw from the rail of a mid-route ferry was the wider shape of the response. A hovercraft and a helicopter arrived quickly and began circling, and a number of civilian vessels converged on the same spot from different directions. The first distress call had come from a civilian boat of unknown size, and by mid-afternoon that initial call had been answered by military helicopters, a Coast Guard hovercraft, RCMP vessels, and two of the province’s largest ferries.
I could see the boats coming in quite speedily from different areas to support the search efforts. I’ve never seen anything like that before.
Natasha Jung, a witness aboard the Queen of Alberni, as reported by CBC News.
What’s Still Unknown About the Sinking
The cause of the sinking was still under investigation as of Sunday evening. The RCMP had not released the name of the vessel, the operator, or the port it had left from. A list of those aboard, and of the six people still missing, had not been made public. What the RCMP and the JRCC had established was narrower: 10 people were believed to have been on the boat, four had been recovered, and the search for the other six was continuing.
The investigation and the air-and-sea search were both continuing overnight and into Monday.
- Known: 10 people believed aboard the charter boat.
- Known: 4 rescued and transferred to the Sea Island Coast Guard Station by 3:15 p.m. PT.
- Known: 1 in critical condition, 3 in stable condition.
- Known: Sinking near Roberts Bank, about 10 nautical miles southwest of Vancouver Airport, at around 11:45 a.m. PT.
- Unknown: Cause of the sinking.
- Unknown: Identity of the operator and the vessel’s name.
- Unknown: Names and conditions of the six people still missing.
Why Roberts Bank, and Why the Response Was So Big
Roberts Bank sits in the southern Strait of Georgia, roughly 10 nautical miles southwest of Vancouver International Airport. It is one of the busier commercial anchorages on the B.C. coast, the site of a major container terminal, and the approach water for two of the province’s busiest ferry routes. A distress call in this stretch does not go out to a single agency, because the geography puts federal, provincial, and commercial responders within the same hour of the same patch of water.
That geography is the reason a single JRCC alert in this corner of the coast can pull a response of this size. A distress call from a civilian vessel in this stretch triggers JRCC Victoria, which the federal government describes as leading all SAR missions in the B.C. and Yukon search and rescue region. That puts air assets out of Comox, Coast Guard vessels and a hovercraft, and RCMP rotor and patrol craft all within reach of the same area. The two ferries that turned around were already there, mid-route, before the dedicated rescue assets arrived.
- Roberts Bank – southern Strait of Georgia, southwest of Vancouver International Airport.
- JRCC Victoria – federal SAR coordinator for the B.C. and Yukon search and rescue region.
- Tsawwassen-Duke Point – the ferry route the Queen of Alberni and Coastal Inspiration were running when diverted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the Georgia Strait on Sunday, June 28, 2026?
A charter boat began taking on water near Roberts Bank around 11:45 a.m. PT, and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre was notified by a civilian vessel of several people in the water without personal flotation devices. Four of the 10 people believed to have been aboard were recovered and transferred to paramedics by 3:15 p.m. PT, and six remained missing as of Sunday evening.
How many people were on the charter boat?
The B.C. RCMP said it is believed that 10 people were aboard the boat when it began taking on water near Roberts Bank. Four were rescued; one was hospitalized in critical condition, and the other three were in stable condition, according to B.C. Emergency Health Services.
What caused the boat to sink?
The cause of the sinking was not known as of Sunday evening. The RCMP said the cause of the incident remained unknown and the circumstances were still under investigation, and a vessel name and operator had not been released.
Which ferries were diverted to the search?
The Queen of Alberni and the Coastal Inspiration, both on the Tsawwassen-Duke Point route, were diverted from their scheduled sailings to help with the search. B.C. Ferries said the two vessels did not physically retrieve anyone from the water and were cleared to depart around 2 p.m. PT as other rescue assets arrived.
Who is leading the search?
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), the federal search and rescue coordinator for the B.C. and Yukon region, received the initial notification from a civilian vessel and directed the air and marine response. The JRCC was continuing to lead the search for the six missing people as of its 3:15 p.m. PT update on Sunday.
