Ferry, Ship Talked Prior To Collision

TSAWWASSEN, B.C. - The Transport Ministry says it has tape recordings of radio conversations between a British Columbia government ferry and a Japanese coal carrier shortly before the vessels collided in thick fog.

Ministry spokesman Steve Ryback said the recordings will be given to an inquiry panel probing Thursday's accident, which sent 11 ferry passengers and six crew members to the hospital.

The recordings will not be made public yet because they are regarded as privileged communications, Ryback said. John MacLeod of the Canadian Coast Guard's vessel traffic service said regulations require reports and traffic clearance before ships leave their berths, plus continuous monitoring of the service's radio frequency. B.C. Ferries spokeswoman Angie Lessick said the ferries are required to be in regular contact with the vessel-traffic service "and they would give us a clear indication of any traffic in the vicinity."

The Nanaimo-bound ferry Queen of Alberni collided with the Shinwa Maru minutes after leaving its berth at this Vancouver suburb. Lessick said the ferry is fitted with the latest radar equipment.

John Newton, operations manager at the adjacent Roberts Bank coal-port terminal where the Japanese freighter took on its cargo, said it was the first time in 3,500 sailings there had been a problem involving a freighter and a ferry.

The Canadian Coast Guard, the National Transportation Safety Board and B.C. Ferries are conducting investigations.

All but one of the injured was treated and released. A Nanaimo man remained in Delta Hospital after being thrown into a pillar on the ferry when its bow hit the port side of the coal carrier.

The collision was the second in thick fog in five weeks for B.C. Ferries. In the earlier incident, the Queen of Saanich and Sealink's Royal Vancouver passenger catamaran collided in Active Pass in the Gulf Islands.