VICTORIA – A BC Ferries worker has been charged with criminal negligence causing death, four years after two people died when a ship sunk off northern Vancouver Island.
Karl Lilgert, the fourth officer, was charged on Tuesday in the March 2006 Queen of the North sinking.
The vessel was on its way to the north Vancouver Island community of Port Hardy from the northeastern B.C. city of Prince Rupert when it failed to make a critical turn in Wright Sound and hit the northeast side of Gil Island.
Fifty-seven passengers and 42 crew members abandoned the ship before it sank. But Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy were never found and have been declared dead. Out-of-court settlements have been reached with the victims’ families.
Lilgert will next appear in court on April 14.
He is the only person to be charged in the sinking, according to a news release from the B.C. Criminal Justice Branch.
BC Ferries officials have never explained why Lilgert and quartermaster Karen Bricker neglected to make a crucial course change and sailed at full speed for 14 minutes without realizing their mistake. By the time the crew tried to change the ship’s course, it was too late. It sank one hour and 17 minutes later.
Lilgert and Bricker, who are former lovers, were fired by BC Ferries along with officer Keven Hilton, who was taking a meal break at the time.
A Transportation Safety Board report determined that the lack of a third qualified person on the bridge was partially responsible for the sinking.
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