Queen of the North sinks!

The BC Ferry Queen of the North hit rocks off of Gill Island and sank on Wednesday morning, all 101 passengers and crew were safely transferred to lifeboats and taken to Hartley Bay by the Coast Guard vessel Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

The incident took place approximately 135 kilometres south of Prince Rupert at 12:43 am as the ferry was making the regular trip between Prince Rupert and Port Hardy. The vessel was fully submerged within an hour of striking the rock.

It's expected that they will be returned to Prince Rupert by the Wilfrid Laurier later today. And local hotels have been asked to provide rooms for the returning passengers.

The Queen of the North was built in Sweden in 1969 and purchased by BC Ferries in 1974, it first came into Northern service in 1980 and was fully refitted in 2001 for continued use in the Northern area of the BC Ferries system.

David Hahn The President and CEO of BC Ferries is to arrive in Prince Rupert later in the day as well to assess the situation and address the needs of the passengers and crew.

The sinking also creates a logistical nighmare for the Ferry Corporation, as the Queen of the North was also pulling double duty by traveling the Queen Charlotte route as well as the Port Hardy run, with the Queen of Prince Rupert in refit until June, the Ferry Corporation will have to find a way to provide service on all of its northern routes now.

For now though the immediate concern is the status of the passengers and crew and a full investigation into what happened at 12:43 on Wednesday morning, the Canadian Transportation Board will begin it's investigation into the incident today.

Update 1:52pm, The Globe and Mail and CBC are reporting that Coast Guard crews are still searching the waters for possibly two passengers from the Queen of the North. Officials at BC Ferries are not sure if a couple from 100 mile house actually boarded the ferry at Prince Rupert, but as they had reservations for the sailing they may have been aboard. While the Coast Guard searches the area, RCMP are asking for anyone with information about the couple to contact them with a hopeful thought that they missed the saling. Details are in the story here.