The man who lost his life when the vessel he was on sunk in the mouth of the Halifax harbour has been identified as Max Hinch.
His fiance, Kimmie Robb, has expressed her sorrow regarding the passing of the father to her child, Max Hinch.
Robb wrote in a message to Global News that Hinch was “truly so special and meant so much to us. I’m still unable to process he was taken away way too soon.”
READ MORE: Body of crew member recovered after vessel sinks off Halifax, 2 others rescued
Robb and Hinch have a four-year-old-son together and he was working as a “trusted and experienced” deckhand with RMI Marine Ltd. when tragedy struck in the early hours of Jan. 29.
“I would just love the world to know how great of a father he was. We traveled the world together, met for the first time on a whim, got engaged in Thailand, wedding plans in Italy,” Robb wrote.
A fundraising campaign has been created to help support Robb with raising the couple’s son, Jace.
The investigation into what caused the 40-foot MVC Captain Jim to sink after rapidly taking on water around 2 a.m., on Tuesday is being headed Transportation and Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
The vessel was owned by RMI Marine which was using the ship to taxi people to other vessels anchored outside of Halifax Harbour.
“On the way back, within about 20 to half an hour on the way back, they ran into problems. They started taking on water, the engine quit and finally, the vessel sank and as you know, two people were able to make it to the life raft and one didn’t,” said Captain Pierre Murray, the regional operations marine manager with the TSB.
The TSB says they strive to produce reports within 450 days. Although it undoubtedly feels like an eternity for the families waiting for answers, pinpointing exactly what happened takes an extraordinary amount of time.
“The first thing we do is go in the field and then we talk to people that were there, that are aware, that have the information. So, that’s what it is it’s an information gathering process.”
WATCH: Search underway for missing person after boat sinks off Halifax
RMI Marine wrote in an email that the vessel “was returning to port when the Captian called for immediate abandonment after notifying Halifax Traffic and Search and Rescue.”
“Unfortunately the vessel went down so quickly that only the Captain and the passenger made it to the deployed life raft,” they wrote.
The company has expressed its sincere condolences to Hinch’s family and friends.
“We sincerely regret the passing of one of our dedicated and loyal employees and he will be missed by his co-workers and friends.”