The sinking of the Leviathan II, a whale-watching ship that went down last fall off the coast from Tofino, British Columbia, shows just how quickly a seemingly safe and simple activity can turn both dangerous and deadly.
The passengers who bought tickets and boarded the ship did not believe there was significant danger. Though there is some level of inherent danger when dealing with the water, the cruise was supposed to be slow, calm and pleasant. They thought they’d spend the day casually standing on the deck and looking at whales surfacing in the water nearby.
However, two different issues turned the calm day trip into a deadly accident that took six lives and gave survivors mental and physical injuries. First of all, those who operated the ship took it into an area with a well-known history of treacherous seas. This was an unnecessary danger when they could have taken a different course where there was far less known risk.
On top of that, the ship itself was not fit for the conditions on the water. The crew needed to know the limitations of the vessel, but they appear to have ignored these limitations and taken the ship to a place where sinking became a distinct possibility.
As such, there was an undue risk for all of the passengers. They had no way of knowing, when they signed up for the cruise, that they were subjecting themselves to all of these risks. They trusted the captain and the crew to keep them safe, trusting in their knowledge and experience, but negligence created significant danger and led to the incident.
Those who have put their safety in someone else’s hands and then been let down due to negligence need to know how to seek compensation. The same goes for those who have lost loved ones on account of this negligence.
Source: Rochon Genova LLP, “Leviathan II,” accessed Aug. 19, 2016
