A group of fishermen have been rescued after spending 10 days stranded on an island off the north coast of B.C. subsisting on a diet of clams and seaweed.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre says the men's 15-metre-long fishing liner, the Pacific Siren, capsized last week about 113 kilometres south of Prince Rupert in the Hecate Strait.
"The vessel didn't completely sink right away, it was down by the stern with the bow pointing up," said regional Maritime Search and Rescue supervisor Marc Proulx. "They managed to jump into their dingy and paddled over to shore."
The fishermen estimate they went down roughly 13 kilometres from land, and spent about 24 hours paddling before they reached Banks Island.
Their ship was not equipped with an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, which would have let authorities know they were in trouble.
Using the raft as shelter, the men survived a week and a half before being spotted and picked up by a sailing vessel.
Proulx said the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Tanu picked up the men to transport them back to Prince Rupert. They are all believed to be area residents.
The Coast Guard crew performed a medical assessment and found no clear signs of injury in any of the men.
