Dinner cruise evacuated, passengers rescued in Halifax Harbour

CTV Atlantic: Tour boat loses power in Halifax Harbour Transport Canada is conducting a compliance inspection after a tour boat with 33 passengers lost power in Halifax Harbour Sunday night.

A Halifax dinner cruise ended in an evacuation Sunday night, when the Harbour Queen 1 lost power around 7 p.m.

More than 30 passengers onboard were forced to disembark to waiting ships.

The vessel is a Mississippi-style sternwheeler.

The Harbour Queen 1 dropped anchor, but continued to drift toward the rocks at Point Pleasant Park.

Murphy’s the Cable Wharf CEO, Dennis Campbell says crews followed procedures set in place.

“Last night was a night of very high winds, and that's why we immediately dispatched not only a second vessel to disembark the passengers, but we also immediately called a tugboat to secure the Harbour Queen and bring it safely back to dock,” he said.

Campbell says the Harbour Queen also put the call out to search and rescue teams over the radio.

He says the boat lost power due to a fuel issue that has been resolved since.

“Our marine team has been working on it,” he says. “They've determined that there was a fuel issue. They’ve since taken all the old fuel out, and they've reprimed the engine, and put all new fuel.”

“The Habour Queen 1 indicated that it had lost propulsion and a nearby ship, the Peggy's Cove Express, was assisting them, and at that time they were not requesting any sort of coast guard assistance,” said Frederic Roi from the Maritime Search and Rescue for the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

Roi says 20 minutes after the original call came in, the Harbour Queen called again, to say the anchor was dragging.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre then helped find a boat to tow the Harbour Queen back to shore.

“It is always prudent to make sure that other mariners in the area and the coast radio station are aware of the situation on board as it develops, because  the reaction time before things get serious is time that we never can recover afterwards,” said Roi.

A tugboat was brought in to tow the cruise boat to port, where it was examined Monday morning.

No one was injured during the evacuation and Murphy's the Cable Warf cable says all of the dinner cruise’s passengers received a full refund on the cost of their tickets.

Transport Canada has cleared the Harbour Queen for departure again and it will be heading out on another cruise Monday evening.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Emily Baron Cadloff.