Survivors of last weekend’s whale watching tragedy struggled to hold onto a missing Australian man in rough seas before he disappeared into the deep, according to an RCMP dive supervisor.
Const. Jim Preston said survivors told him about the heartbreaking moments before 27-year-old Sydney resident Rav Pillay sank below the surface, painting a bleak picture of the odds he will be found alive.
“He was under the water and they were trying to hold onto him,” said Preston. “It was a struggle, they’re fighting to hold on themselves. It’s him or them. They let go. He goes under. He goes straight down. The last thing they saw is him disappearing to the bottom.”
Preston said he needed specific details from survivors in order to point him as close as possible to where Pillay was last seen, near Plover Reefs off Vargas Island on Sunday.
He said a crew member from the Leviathan II brought him to that spot, which RCMP divers marked on GPS, and divers found clothing, a cell phone charger, and metal debris from the ship. But there was no sign of Pillay there.
Five British nationals perished in the sinking of the Leviathan II, and some of their mourning family members arrived in Tofino on Wednesday. Pillay’s girlfriend, Danielle Hooker, was among them; her father, Nigel Hooker, also perished in the waves.
Though family members did not speak to the media, the British Foreign Office released statements on their behalf.
Hooker’s family said they are in “complete shock and disbelief… our dad Nigel was a loving and caring father who had an appetite for adventure.”
The family of another victim, 27-year-old Katie Taylor, who was staying in Whistler, said, “Katie was a vibrant, outgoing and lovely young woman. She will be very much missed by all of her family and friends.”
Officers braved rough seas in order to search the fast-moving shallow ocean, Preston said.
“As we started to get closer and closer, we were getting beaten in the boat trying to make it through the waves,” he said. “A lot of times the boat would come slamming down.”
The fast-moving water under the surface meant his divers had to grab onto whatever they could to stay in place. Preston said he has concerns about the safety of his divers in conditions like that. He pledged to keep looking, but if Pillay can’t be found in their grid search they will not continue.
“If we locate him, that’s the end goal. If I clear the area they all say he’s in, and he’s not there, I’ll be ending the dive,” he said.
