Major police incident involving missing person leaves hundreds of BC Ferries passengers stranded

TSAWWASSEN, B.C. -

Hundreds of BC Ferries passengers were stranded on the water for hours Thursday night and several trips were cancelled Friday after a major police incident aboard a ship.

Police said the incident involved a "disturbance" on the ship caused by an intoxicated person and their missing travel partner.

Const. Gary O'Brien with the Nanaimo RCMP said the behaviour of one passenger was bad enough that the ferry turned back after departing from the terminal.

He said officers found an individual who was "acting very erratic," and appeared to be "intoxicated by drugs." That person was arrested, but O'Brien said that was all there was to it, and that the person would be released Friday morning without charges.

But that person had been travelling with someone, and their companion's whereabouts could not be confirmed when police boarded the ferry to investigate.

The intoxicated man was seen on video in a vehicle with the second person, whom police searched for but could not find.

Mounties said Friday morning that they believed that person walked off the ferry with other passengers and left in a taxi, and that – contrary to rumours on social media – there was nothing to suggest they went overboard.

"It does happen from time to time. People, whether for mental health issues or there's warrants for their arrest or they just want to disappear, for their own reasons they leave the ferry without telling somebody," he said.

"It's troubling because then we have to find out why they left and where they are."

The Nanaimo RCMP was eventually able to find that person and confirm that he was safe. His vehicle, which he'd left on the ferry and was impounded, has been returned to him.

Police said the investigation "is now concluded," but did not give any further details about what they uncovered after speaking to both travellers.

BC Ferries told CTV News it would be conducting an internal review of the incident, and that both people involved would be facing travel bans.

The chaos unfolded aboard a sailing between Duke Point and Tsawwassen and put all trips on the route at risk for the day. Eight trips had been cancelled as of 9 a.m.

The incident began around 8 p.m., shortly after the Coastal Inspiration left Duke Point.

Witnesses say they saw a man in a black vehicle yelling and throwing things out of his vehicle.

“After about 30 minutes of sailing ... there was an announcement that there would be turning around because of a medical emergency,” said Thomas Hazelman, who was on board at the time.

He said they were waiting for about an hour before staff gave them further instructions.

“They had all the walk on passengers walk off onto the car deck. So we all passed a car that was taped off - just a black car taped off, with police surrounding it,” said Hazelman.

Passengers told CTV News there was a very heavy police presence.

“I just happened to go to the front of this ship or when it docked and I saw the RCMP come in and they picked up a fellow there and he was in handcuffs when he walked away,” said Darren Dahl.

On the Tsawwassen side, Delta police said officers assisted with the investigation, but did not provide details on what that assistance entailed.

They were at the ferry terminal Friday morning as well, but that was to help with traffic congestion and to "aid in clearing the backlog of traffic" headed to the terminal.

FRIDAY FERRY IMPACTS

Multiple sailings were cancelled "due to a police incident outside of our control," BC Ferries said in a post on social media at 9 a.m.

A travel advisory warned the 3:15 p.m., 5:45 p.m., 8:15 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. trips between Tsawwassen and Duke Point in both directions will not be running, and another Friday morning left about an hour late.

The company warned that the following trips on the same route in both directions would go ahead but with "significant" delays: 5:15 a.m., 7:45 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

The 5:15 sailing from Duke Point, for example, left 134 minutes late.

Another message warned of "anticipated sailing delays" impacting all trips out of Tsawwassen, including those to the Southern Gulf Islands, Swartz Bay (Victoria) and Duke Point (Nanaimo), as a result of the incident Thursday.

"Customers intending to travel without reservations today are encouraged to travel on an alternative day, as non-reserved travellers may be turned away due to traffic volumes or experience multiple sailing waits on all major routes," BC Ferries said.

"Our Customer Service Centre will contact customers with bookings on these cancelled sailings to let them know their booking must be cancelled and the fees/fares will be refunded."