Gitka'a'ata First Nation mobilizes to save passengers on sinking ferry

Hartley Bay is home to the members of the Gitka'a'ata First Nation

The rescue at Hartley Bay
Villagers race to sea in pitch blackness with one thought: help those in distress

MARK HUME AND ROBERT MATAS
From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Moments after the marine radio crackled to life at 12:25 a.m. yesterday with a distress call announcing that a British Columbia ferry was on the rocks, the village of Hartley Bay sprang into action.

People tumbled out of their beds, pulled on their clothes and raced through a lashing rain squall for the small dock in the isolated community on B.C.'s rugged Central Coast, 140 kilometres southeast of Prince Rupert.

The men who had boats went to sea, in pitch blackness and not knowing exactly where they were headed, while those who remained behind were organized by women at the Hartley Bay native band community centre to get ready for survivors.

Nobody knew what to expect, but they knew they would do whatever they could. complete article