The heartbroken mother of a young fisherman has identified him as the captain of the charter boat involved in a deadly sinking in B.C. waters last Sunday and says he complained about the disrepair of the vessel.
Ashley Lin says in an emotional interview that her 23-year-old son Chen Ming is among six people missing and feared drowned.
She says the boat was operated by a company known as Top Fishing in English and Haishang in Chinese.
Get daily National news
Lin and Chen’s girlfriend, Hailey Lee, both say in a joint interview in Mandarin that a side door was broken on the 30-foot boat that went down in deep waters with 10 people aboard.
Chen’s mother, from Richmond, B.C., says her son was a “responsible child” and she urged the owner of the charter firm to issue a statement about what happened.
A person who answered the phone to the company this week said they knew nothing about the incident before hanging up.
What about the four survivors what is their story? Who rescued them?
I wouldn’t trust anything or anyone on bc’s west coast
Sources of mine have said they have possibly located the vessel with sonar and the theory is the broken side door and water was coming in from the choppy water without the young captains knowledge, the aft deck got swamped and it listed the boat portside as the weight of the water shut the door closed and it’s hard to open it from the water force from inside and trapped everyone else inside as there was no visible debris the 4 who were rescued were probably thinking it was normal to see water in the back if they sitting at the aft, [ as you can see captain is sitting on the door which probaly weakened the hinges and door seal ]
RCMP will update Monday July 6th.
Very sad that people are put in positions and complain nothing is done. How is the happening? So tragic but the owner will escape back to country of origin and Canadians are held responsible.
It seems to me there are aspects to this story that are not being given the emphasis they deserve. I am not going to comment on why that may be.
This captain was not licensed and one can assume had not taken any appropriate marine emergency duties training, the kind of training you need to be a cafeteria worker on a BC Ferry. He was a kid which is not to say he was not capable but would certainly be lacking in experience.
The boat was in a state of dangerous disrepair as his girlfriend pointed out yet this captain still chose to go out, even going out after having been broached and taken on water just 2 days prior. The boat owners are responsible for its upkeep but the skipper is the one that makes the decision the vessel is safe to go out. It seems that the fact conditions were described as tricky was also not given due consideration.
There were ten people on a 30 foot vessel and no one was wearing a life jacket. That is a lot of people to be managing without a deckhand while you are supposed to paying attention to navigation and sea conditions.
The boat had also been impounded earlier for illegally fishing in a closed area. In the photo Chen appears to have his foot on the back of a six gill shark. It is hard to tell if the shark is still alive but judging by how lighlty he is holding its tail I would guess not. A fish that size is not going to be landed with a dip net. Most likely a gaff would have been used. It is illegal to keep six gills. They are catch and release only.
The mother is demanding answers from the company owners and the media are calling them for comment. That is misplaced focus.
Prime Minister Carney offered his condolences to the mother. What about the other five people that died and the four others that were lucky to be saved? The real tragedy is five people died because they were in the care of someone who was not an experienced or responsible skipper.
I appreciate that Global is the only news outlet allowing comment on this issue.
Probably another flea bag company with unqualified.People running it and the 23-year-old captain on a bad boat.Company should be put out of business
I grew up on a boat on the British Columbia Coast and I’ve never heard of a 23 year old Captain of a commercial vessel. It is the responsibility of the Captain to ensure their vessel is safe and equipped with life jackets. Especially a commercial vessel. If he didn’t have that power then he was just a hired operator and the responsibility falls on the company that hired him.
I hope you find your boy. How heartbreaking for everyone involved 💔
WHERE’S THE STRICT SAFETY RULES REGARDING LIFE JACKETS ? CHEN SAYS QUOTE : he complained about the disrepair of the vessel. THEN WHY TAKING PEOPLES MONEY AND GOING OUT INTO OPEN WATERS ? F/ G RIDICULOUS B/ S
Sounds like China is operating shoddy charters. And everyone involved knew it.
the captain is responsible for the safety of his ship. full stop. if it was in disrepair and he went out it is on him.
Is it me or is it odd that a company would send a $800,000 boat and 10 clients out with a 23yr old.
Not saying the poor kid didn’t have the skills but it does seem like a ridiculous amount of responsibility to put on a 23yr old.
You know he isn’t going to say no if pressed.
Seems safety enforcement is somebody’s responsibility, but nobody was around to check, although anybody could have done it. Unfortunately, everybody was thought to be responsible, and so nothing happened, except for some people drowning.
Once more, those endowed with the responsibility looking the other way.
You could have bet money on who were the owner operators.