Updated Saturday, Feb. 23 at 7:56 p.m. AT
WOODS HARBOUR, N.S. – Hours after police confirmed the military spotted the hull of the Miss Ally intact, the community of Woods Harbour, N.S. was devastated to learn five young fishermen were not found inside the capsized vessel.
Divers aboard a private fishing boat that went to search for the overturned vessel and its crew members, surveyed the Miss Ally and found it was extensively damaged.
Global’s Erin Trafford went to a local community hall, where people were said to be in tears after hearing the new information.
RCMP confirmed the captain of the Slave Driver contacted the Canadian Coast Guard vessel in the area — the Sir William Alexander — to say the Miss Ally’s wheelhouse and sleeping quarters were not attached to the overturned hull.
“On behalf of RCMP and Department of National Defence and Canadian Coast Guard, we express our deepest sympathies to the families,” Supt. Sylvie Bourassa-Muise said.
Five fishermen – Joel Hopkins, Billy Jack Hatfield, Tyson Townsend, Steven Cole Nickerson and skipper Katlin Nickerson — are all missing.
Police confirmed to Global News Saturday morning that a military aircraft has spotted the hull of the Miss Ally intact at about 9:38 a.m.
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The Sir William Alexander and private fishing vessels headed to the area, 239 kilometres southeast of Halifax, to search for the boat and its crew two days after a Coast Guard search was called off.
HMCS Glace Bay left Halifax Saturday with members of the Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic), but the ship was not due to arrive at the site until sometime overnight the RCMP said just before 5:00 p.m.
HMCS Glace Bay remains en route and Mounties said a remotely operated vehicle will be deployed to conduct an assessment of the Miss Ally in the morning.
Mounties said sea and weather conditions at the sea, where the water is at a depth of 900 metres, complicated efforts to investigate the hull of the capsized boat.
The Woods Harbour-based Miss Ally overturned in stormy seas late Sunday evening, as it headed to Sambro, on the outskirts of Halifax, to find safe harbour. The boat fought through eight-to-10 metre seas and hurricane force winds, before it overturned.
A search for the boat and the fishermen, all in their 20s, was scaled back Tuesday evening, prompting emotional pleas from family members and the tightly knit southern N.S. communities to not give up on trying to locate the vessel.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, in Halifax, said Tuesday “any hope of survival has diminished due to frigid water and poor condition.” JRCC then handed the case over as a missing persons operation.
Although the hull was previously spotted by an airplane Wednesday afternoon — the second time it had been seen since search efforts began — RCMP told the families Thursday night there was no longer any sign of the boat.
Families did not want to give up on hope the crew could be recovered and local fishermen set out to sea to look for Miss Ally.
RCMP said Friday they would relay information to the fishermen headed to the site. That coincided with the Department of Defence sending a military aircraft to fly over the area, where the debris had been spotted, along with the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Sir William Alexander.
The DND surveillance flight spotted the hull Saturday approximately 46 kilometres north west of where the emergency position indicating radio beacon signal.
An emergency distress beacon was activated at 11:06 p.m. JRCC said Tuesday — before the search effort was reduced — the beacon had still been emitting a signal, even though authorities believed it was no longer attached to the boat.
RCMP Statement on Miss Ally – Feb. 23 7 p.m. by nick_logan9361
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