Investigators to visit Quebec to look into Iqaluit sealift spill
Transportation Safety Board trying to determine if full investigation is required
A shipping container washes up on Iqaluit’s shore on Oct. 28, following a sealift incident where 23 sea cans fell into the water near the deepsea port. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada announced Tuesday it is sending investigators to Bécancour, Que., to look into the spill and determine if a full investigation is warranted. (Photo by Jason Sudlovenick, special to Nunatsiaq News)
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is sending a team of investigators to Bécancour, Que., following the Iqaluit deepsea port incident last month where 23 shipping containers fell into the water and a ship’s crew member was injured.
The containers fell into the Kojesse Inlet near Iqaluit on Oct. 27 while in transit from a barge onto the ramp next to the port, NEAS Arctic Sealift CEO Daniel Dagenais said on Oct. 31.
The Sivumut, a 138-metre cargo vessel, was transporting the sea cans which contained goods and beverages destined for stores in Iqaluit. Sixteen of the containers were recovered, but several sank to the bottom of the bay and have yet to be located, Dagenais said.
During the incident, a Sivumut crew member fell overboard and was transported to a hospital in Ottawa for medical attention.
The crew member sustained ailments consistent with drowning, like breathing in water and choking, Dagenais said on Tuesday.
He also sustained a light bruise on the forehead, but x-rays showed there were no fractures or serious head trauma.
The crew member was released from the Ottawa Civic Hospital over the weekend and is now “doing fine” at home with family in the greater Montreal area, Dagenais said.
The transportation safety board will send two investigators to the Sivumut in Bécancour, where NEAS’s marine terminal is based, to assess the incident, spokesperson Liam MacDonald said in an email.
The federal government agency is currently in the field phase, meaning it is gathering information and assessing the situation to determine whether to proceed with a full investigation.
There are currently no plans to send investigators to Iqaluit, MacDonald said.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is an independent agency that investigates air, marine, pipeline and rail transportation occurrences.
And why are they determining if a full investigation is required, of course it needs to be investigated, we don’t know what’s in those other sea cans that can’t be recovered.