Family of two victims testify at B.C. ferry sinking trial

Relatives of two people who went missing after a B.C. Ferry sinking seven years ago testified today at the trial of the ship's navigation officer.

Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette haven't been seen since the night of March 22, 2006,when theQueen of the North struck an island and sankoff the B.C. north coast.

Foisy's brother, George, spoke to CBC News about the last time he saw the pair.

"I dropped them off and watched them walk on, watched the ferry sail away, and that was the last time I saw them," he said outside court on Tuesday.

"I knew they got on that boat and they never got back off."

Queen of the North crew member Karl Lilgert has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death in connection with Foisy and Rosette's disappearance.

Lilgert was the officer in charge of navigation when the ferry missed a scheduled course correction hours after leaving Prince Rupert for Vancouver Island.

"The saddest thing about this whole thing is the guy won't fess up to what happened on that boat, and he had to drag the family back into this," George Foisy said.

Brittni Foisy, Gerald's 22-year-old daughter, told the court that she had a strong relationship with her father. She would speak with him on the phone several times a week, she added.

Foisy's parents separated when she was younger, with her father staying in 100 Mile House, B.C., while she, her sister and her mother moved to Penticton.

Foisy said she last saw her father a week before the fatal crash. She said he often told her and her sister that they were his world.

George Foisy said the family hopes someone will be held accountable.

"Some responsibility taken for what happened to my brother. Right now there's none," he said. "We all loved them and they're not here anymore."