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