Video courtesy of Daniel Frank  This is the terrifying moment when a 65-foot whale-watching boat packed with tourists suddenly capsized in the frigid waters of the northern Pacific Ocean off the Canadian coast.  Skies were clear and the seas calm late Sunday afternoon when something went horribly wrong, and the Leviathan II flipped about eight miles off the village of Tofino on Vancouver Island, a popular destination for whale watchers.  Five British tourists died and another person remained missing as of late Monday, authorities said.  The crew had sent a mayday before the tragedy, although the cause of the calamity remained a mystery.  Fishing guide Lance Desilets said at least 12 rescue boats were already on the scene when he arrived Sunday.  “I saw a lot of personal belongings, a long diesel slick and the top 10 feet of the Leviathan II sticking out of the water,” Desilets said. “It’s a sad day for our community.”  Photo: Daniel Frank“Boats from the nearby Ahoushat First Nation arrived first on the scene, said aboriginal Councilor Tom Campbell.  He was on the waterfront and watched as rescuers brought several survivors ashore, and said his cousin pulled at least eight people from the water onto a boat.  “Their looks tell the whole story,” he said by phone. “You can’t describe looks on people that are lost. They look totally lost — shocked and lost.”  Sheila Simpson said she was strolling on a dock with her husband when rescue boats roared up carrying people from the distressed vessel.  “One didn’t make it,” said Simpson about a man whose body was covered by a blanket.  Simpson, who was in Tofino visiting a friend at the local hospital, said she tried to comfort some of the survivors as they stood on the dock awaiting transportation to a hospital or to their hotels.  “They were in absolute shock,” said Simpson. “You could see it in their eyes.”  Four men and one woman, ranging in age from 18 to 76, died, the coroner’s office said.  The other 21 people aboard the boat — excluding the missing person — were rescued from the 55-degree waters Sunday.  The Royal Canadian Mounted Police sent an underwater recovery team to search for the missing person, with assistance from the Coast Guard and local search-and-rescue personnel.  And government investigators arrived Monday afternoon in Tofino, a remote community of about 2,000 people about 125 miles west of the city of Vancouver.  Coast Guard vessels searched all night for survivors of the sunken vessel.
Five people died after a whale watching boat with 27 people on board sank off Vancouver Island on Sunday and one person remained missing, Canadian authorities said.