Contents of spilled sea cans included beer, store goods

Most of the contents of sea cans that fell into the water around Iqaluit’s deepsea port on Friday were bound for local stores, including the Beer and Wine store, a spokesperson for NEAS Arctic Sealift  said Monday.

The majority of the containers were full and were being shipped north, NEAS director of marketing for Nunavut Jimmy S. Akavak said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

The spill will have “some impact” on supplies in Iqaluit, he said, but “no immediate emergency or danger [was] caused,” Akavak said on Monday.

Approximately 20 containers fell into the water near the port Friday afternoon in what the shipping company described as a “discharge incident.”

Akavak said the containers fell into the water while they were being towed, but the company is checking into “how exactly” this happened.

Some containers washed up on the shore of Apex over the weekend. A Government of Nunavut social media post warned that anyone who takes contents from a sealift container without authorization “could face criminal and/or civil penalties.”

Canadian Coast Guard spokesperson Jeremy Hennessy confirmed on Monday that one crew member from the sealift ship had fallen overboard on Friday.

“Coast guard search and rescue personnel from the CCGS Henry Larsen were dispatched and assisted in the search for the overboard crew member from the sealift barge,” Hennessy said.

The crew member was recovered by a member of the community and taken ashore to emergency medical services personnel, he said.

“We’re not sure at this point how the individual fell overboard, but that would also be an element of any investigation into this incident by the [Transportation Safety Board].”

CBC News reported Sunday that the crew member was in critical but stable condition in hospital.

The Transportation Safety Board is gathering information and assessing the event to determine whether it will launch a full investigation into the incident, spokesperson Hugo Fontaine said in an email Monday.