Charter boat Top Ocean sinks off Vancouver, 7 dead

On June 28 2026 a nine‑metre charter fishing boat, the Top Ocean (formerly Big Coast), sank in the Strait of Georgia near Roberts Bank, off Richmond, British Columbia. Ten people were aboard; six are missing and presumed drowned, while a 28‑year‑old Chinese woman rescued after the incident later died in hospital, bringing the death toll to seven. Three other passengers – a woman from Toronto, a man from Redmond, Washington, and a man from Richmond – survived and have been released from hospital.

The vessel’s last AIS signal was at 10:35 a.m.; a mayday call was made by a nearby sailboat couple, Angus and Dorothy Stauffer, who rescued four people from the water. The RCMP, Transport Canada, the Transportation Safety Board and other agencies are investigating possible safety failures, including reported faulty watertight doors, lack of life jackets and the operation of a pleasure craft as a commercial passenger vessel. The company, Top Vancouver Fishing Charter, had posted on Chinese‑language social media about a successful haul earlier that day, and its larger 11‑metre boat has been detained by Transport Canada for safety violations. The sunken boat was located at a depth of 153 metres by an underwater drone, but no bodies were recovered.