Only days after it began its season, the Edmonton Queen Riverboat had to cut its final Mother’s Day cruise of the day short after encountering mechanical issues.
Issues arose when one of the port hydraulic pumps started “acting up,” said Edmonton Riverboat owner Eric Warnke in conversation with This Morning with Stacey Brotzel on 880 CHED.
“Our captain made the decision to deliberately bring it to rest just there,” he said. “We were able to call in fire rescue and they were amazing getting everyone home safely. So she wasn’t stuck or anything, we just deliberately put her there so we could deal with the engine.”
He said the boat has two paddle wheels that drive the boat and they can move with just one, adding they did not lose propulsion in the right paddle wheel, but it was safer to bring the boat to rest on the side of the river.
About 200 people were on board the boat.
“She’s not damaged or anything. As far as we can tell there’s a pump that needs replacing and we’re sourcing parts and hopefully she’ll be back and running for our Thursday evening cruise,” Warnke said.
One passenger who spoke with Global News said one of the paddles was making a loud noise as the boat left the dock at about 2 p.m.
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services responded to the scene and helped in the evacuation of the passengers.
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The service said it received a call for assistance at 4:09 p.m. and dispatched crews, including two rescue boats and two land sector crews.
They arrived at about 4:22 p.m. near the intersection of Scona Road and 99B Street.
All passengers and crew were safely evacuated and returned to the riverboat launch by 7:30 p.m. Sunday night. No injuries were reported.
Warnke also said the marine crew “gently drifted” the boat back to dock using two jetboats to keep it on course. It has since been secured at the dock since about 9:30 p.m.
It’s the first weekend for the Edmonton Riverboat season, but it’s not the first time the Edmonton Queen has faced issues.
The boat became stuck in July 2019 and left passengers stranded overnight.
Just before 11:30 p.m. on July 13, 2019, fire crews were called after the riverboat became stuck at Accidental Beach, a sandbar in the river in the Cloverdale area.
Three hundred people on the boat at the time were eventually evacuated.
It took about three years following the incident to get the boat up and running after significant repairs.
Warnke said he was “very pleasantly surprised” people on board the boat were in “great spirits,” saying they got extended patio time on the river.
He added the company will be reaching out to all passengers soon to figure out “how to make it right.”
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