What we know about the boat that sank near Vancouver

RCMP said early Monday that a search for six missing people who officials say were on a boat that sank in B.C.'s Strait of Georgia on Sunday had transitioned to a recovery mission.

The six people — four men and two women — are presumed drowned. 

RCMP said they could deploy a dive team or possibly a remotely-operated underwater drone in a bid to locate the vessel that reportedly left from Steveston and began taking on water about 10 nautical miles southwest of the Vancouver airport.

Four people were confirmed rescued from the water, largely thanks to a couple who were passing by in their sailboat.

More than 24 hours afterwards, retired pilot Brian Angus and Air Canada service director Dorothy Stauffer say they were glad they showed up when they did in difficult sailing conditions. They said none of the people they rescued were wearing life jackets.

In the days to come, RCMP crews will work to find the sunken vessel — a task that will not be made easy, given just how deep the water is.

Meanwhile, officials from the Transportation Safety Board and others will work to determine what went wrong here, and why there wasn't a mayday call issued by the operators of the vessel.

Marine radio archives reveal mayday call

The operator who responded to Sunday's distress call sent a request for help to all nearby vessels and stations, according to public marine radio archives recorded by Broadcastify.

The mayday call was received at approximately 11:45 a.m. PT on Sunday.

Because only one side of the audio is captured — that of Coast Guard officials — it's unclear exactly what is being said by Dorothy Stauffer and Brian Angus, who were on the sailboat and made the mayday call.

The operator who responds to the distress call says in the recording that the sailboat was reporting five people in the water, and asks if they were wearing life jackets.

Later, loud alarm tones are heard to indicate the mayday call was sent to all vessels and stations in the immediate area, providing a location for anyone to assist.

"Mayday relay, mayday relay, mayday relay. This is Victoria Coast Guard radio," the operator says in the recording.

CORRECTION: This post has been updated with the accurate time the mayday call was received.

'I didn't sleep a lot,' rescuer says

Retired pilot Brian Angus and flight attendant Dorothy Stauffer describe helping rescue three people after a boat sank in the Strait of Georgia. Search and rescue officials say the couple's quick actions likely saved lives.

Dorothy Stauffer and Brian Angus, who made the first mayday call about the people in the water and rescued survivors, were just asked about how they're feeling more than 24 hours after the dramatic rescue.

"I didn't sleep a lot, and I thought a lot about it throughout the night — replayed it in my mind quite often," Stauffer told Ian Hanomansing, host of CBC's Hanomansing Tonight.

Stauffer, who earlier spoke about how her training as a flight attendant was instrumental in the rescue, said the couple was grateful that they showed up when they did — but devastated that they couldn't rescue others who were in the water.

Angus said that search-and-rescue, RCMP and Coast Guard officials have reached out to offer resources and professionals to talk to about the situation, which the couple will make use of.

"I am so happy that we were there at the right time," he said, fighting back tears.

Divers or drone may be part of RCMP recovery

I'm out in Steveston where there's a sombre mood on the federal government dock today, but not much activity.

The RCMP Underwater Recovery Team has been called in. Because this boat is believed to have gone down in such deep water, they're going to have to determine whether they can actually send divers down to the wreck, or whether or not they'll have to use remote underwater vehicles — essentially little robots that can go down and try and piece together what happened here.

'No mayday call' from sinking vessel

Maj. Gregory Clarke of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre says there may not have been any survivors after a charter boat sank in B.C.'s Georgia Strait on Sunday if it weren't for a couple aboard a passing sailboat who called for help. Four people were rescued, and as of Monday evening, six others were missing and presumed drowned.

Rescuers only found out about the emergency because a couple on a sailboat called for help, Victoria's officer-in-charge of search and rescue says.

Maj. Gregory Clarke told CBC News Network there was no "mayday" call from the vessel that sank.

"Our Coast Guard radio station actively listens 24/7 and there was no indication of any distress when whatever happened, happened," he said. 

Clarke says the couple did the right thing and called for help on the emergency frequency — setting off the massive rescue effort. 

"If it wasn't for them alerting us, we may not have had any survivors," he said.

"We are very grateful. They saved lives."

Major crimes unit leading investigation

The Richmond RCMP said its major crimes unit is leading the investigation into the tragedy.

Cpl. Frank Bryson tells us the case is an unusual one. 

He says police aren't ruling anything out, including the possibility of a collision or that criminality was involved. 

"We are just going to look at everything, the totality of everything that happened, and if it is, [our team] will determine that and the steps will be taken."

Bryson couldn't comment on whether the boaters were local. 

But he says police know it's a profoundly difficult situation for their families, and that they are committed to getting answers.

Dorothy Stauffer tells us her decades of experience as a flight attendant helped save the lives of three survivors of the sunken boat.

She says the group was clearly hypothermic and was barely able to call for help when she spotted them. One had no clothes on from the waist up.

She says at first, the survivors didn't seem to understand the couple was trying to use the dinghy they were towing as a life-raft. 

"I used my training as a flight attendant," she said.

Stauffer shouted commands to the survivors, telling them to swim to the dinghy and to grab onto its side or the tow rope. 

"We have an acronym, the three As: assess, adapt and then act — and that's what I did," she said.

"I had to assess the situation and then adapt by having Brian drive around the way we did, and then act by yelling at them, barking the orders."

She says a woman was the first to be able to climb on top of the dinghy, but that it took nearly 20 minutes before the other two were able to grab on.

'Tragic reminder' of life-jacket safety

When speaking with CBC News, Maj. Gregory Clarke of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said he always recommends people wear a life-jacket or flotation device, even if they're not going too far from the shore.

"Life-jackets save lives," he said.

All watercraft are required by law to have a life-jacket or personal flotation device (PFD) on board for each person, according to the federal government.

He estimated a person could survive up to 10 hours with a life-jacket in water temperature of about 15 C

"Without a life-jacket, however, that shrinks dramatically, especially in the open water."

He said life-jackets can also help rescue crews find people in the water.

Clarke said the case is a "tragic reminder" of how important a properly fitted flotation device is.

6 missing presumed drowned: RCMP

The six people still missing are presumed to have drowned, the RCMP now say.

In a Monday afternoon update, Richmond RCMP said the victims were four men and two women, and that efforts have now shifted to recovery.

Police are working to notify the victims' next of kin.

A 26-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman have been released from hospital, while a 33-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman remain in critical condition.

Police are still investigating how the boat went down, but say they believe it sank in "very deep waters."

The RCMP's Underwater Recovery Team will be deployed in the area in the coming days to try and find the boat using sonar and to determine whether a dive is feasible or if they'll need to use an underwater drone (remotely-operated vehicle).

It wasn't just search-and-rescue crews and police who joined the massive search effort for survivors of the sunken charter.

When the mayday call went out, several ferries were diverted to help.

One of them was a Hullo foot passenger ferry, while B.C. Ferries also diverted the Queen of Alberni and Coastal Inspiration.

I spoke with Natasha Jung, who was aboard the Queen of Alberni yesterday and described an intense search response. 

"At one point there was a hovercraft. Later on there was a helicopter that came out and I think just other, both commercial as well as recreational types of boats," she said. 

B.C. Ferries says none of its vessels physically removed anyone from the water, and they were cleared to resume their routes around 2 p.m. PT.