Osprey Ferry crews put to test after woman jumps overboard
By Bruce Fuhr
The woman that jumped off the Osprey Ferry into Kootenay Lake last week is resting comfortably in Calgary the husband told The Nelson Daily Thursday from the Alberta City.
The incident happened Wednesday (August 8) during the 6:10 p.m. run from Balfour to the Kootenay Bay terminal.
The woman was traveling with her daughter and boyfriend on the ferry.
The trio had just left another member of the family in Nelson, the woman’s son, and was heading to Calgary via Highway 3A and the Kootenay Lake Ferry.
Halfway through the ferry ride across Kootenay Lake, the mother went to the washroom.
The next thing the daughter and boyfriend heard was someone was overboard.
“My wife had not displayed any signs of distress or being upset or anything at the time,” the husband, who did not want to be identified, explained. “If she had, my daughter would have gone to the washroom with her.”
“She just went to the washroom and the next thing they know she jumped overboard,” the husband added.
The Osprey Ferry was almost at the mid-point of the voyage when a passenger told someone in the Snack Bar a person was overboard, said Bryan Coe, Regional Manager for the operators of the Osprey and Balfour Ferries, Western Pacific Marine.
The captain was informed and immediately switched master controls to the opposite end of the ferry and stopped the ship to allow crew to jump into emergency mode, dropping a zodiac into the water to rescue the woman.
Being at mid-point of the voyage, the Balfour Ferry also stopped to assist, sending its own zodiac.
But by that point woman was safely in the Osprey zodiac.
By chance there was a BC Ambulance crew on board.
“It was like a Perfect Storm,” Coe explained. “The weather was nice, the water was calm, the woman didn’t fight the crew to get into the (zodiac) and there was an ambulance on board the ferry.”
“In all it took about four minutes,” Coe added.
BC ambulance transported the woman to Creston Hospital for observation.
RCMP was called and met the ferry at the Kootenay Bay terminal.
The daughter and son-in-law followed the ambulance to Creston where the woman was released a short time later for the remainder of the trip to Calgary.
Coe said Western Pacific Marine crews train for emergencies regularly and was pleased with the outcome and happy no one was hurt.
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