RICHMOND, B.C. — The Transportation Safety Board has found a lack of adequate maintenance caused a tugboat to sink off British Columbia's Sunshine Coast last spring.
The tug, called the Syringa, sank north of Merry Island when it took on water while towing a barge on March 18, 2015.
Both crew members managed to swim to shore and were picked up by the coast guard, while the barge was released before the sinking and was recovered later by another tug.
The TSB investigation determined preventative measures weren't taken to stop deck water from flowing into the hull, and there wasn't a functioning high-level bilge alarm, which would have warned the crew of the flood.
It also found the master didn't received safety procedures for operating the vessel or dealing with emergencies, that crew members had not done emergency drills, that life jackets weren't easily accessible, and the life raft wasn't serviced a year earlier even though it was mandatory.
The TSB is now calling on Transport Canada to require all operators in marine industries to have formal safety management processes, a regulation not currently in place for smaller tugs.
