Barge sinks near Campbell River, B.C: 2 missing

Authorities spent the day searching for two men who went missing after a barge sank off the east side of Vancouver Island early Saturday morning.

The Canadian Forces' Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria said it received the Mayday call about 2:30 a.m. PT.

Three menwere on thevessel, described as a 67-foot steel landing craft, aboutfive kilometres north of Campbell River, and it was taking on water.

• Google map: Campbell River, B.C.

The bargewas less than a kilometre due north of the docks at the old mill when it sank in 72-metres of water, police said.

One of the men was rescued and pulled aboard an inflatable boat by crew membersof an Alaskan ferry that answered the call for help.

Campbell River RCMP officers lit up the shoreline as best they could to help guide the other two men in the event they were trying to swim to shore.

A Cormorant helicopter was dispatched from CFBComox to aid the RCMP boat PV Higgit and three Canadian coast guard vesselsin the search.

"A comprehensive search by sea, air and land, with the assistance of Campbell River Ground Search and Rescue has failed to turn up any signs of the two missing men," RCMP spokeswomanCpl. M.K. PoppyHallam said Saturday afternoon.

"Transport Canada has been advised and the Campbell River RCMP has control of the investigation as a missing persons case," she said.