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Man rushed to hospital in critical condition after going overboard from BC Ferry

A Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue vessel recovered a person who went overboard from a BC Ferry on Sunday. @Kevinadhika/Twitter

A man was rushed to hospital in critical condition on Sunday, after going overboard from a BC Ferry.

BC Ferries said it happened shortly before 1:30 p.m., as the Queen of Cowichan was passing Bowen Island, heading out of Horseshoe Bay.

The ferry deployed a rescue boat and the Canadian Coast Guard also dispatched help.

The Coast Guard said in a statement that another passenger had witnessed a person fall off the ferry mid-afternoon.

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The volunteer-run Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue ultimately recovered the man.

Click to play video: 'BC Ferries crew rescues man overboard'
BC Ferries crew rescues man overboard
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Jason King with RCM SAR said a crew was deployed from Horseshoe Bay at 1:30 p.m., and found the man not long afterward near the south end of Bowen Island. The crew performed CPR before handing the man off to a crew on a Coast Guard hovercraft.

BC Emergency Health Services said paramedics then met rescue crews at Spanish Banks and transported the patient in critical condition to a local hospital.

BC Ferries described the situation as a “medical emergency” that delayed the boat’s arrival by more than an hour at Departure Bay in Nanaimo.

– with files from The Canadian Press 

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