Elite Navigator carried more safety equipment than required, writes TSB in investigation report

Maddie Ryan · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 3:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

It's intolerable to cognize what caused the occurrence connected the Elite Navigator successful July 2024, arsenic the sportfishing vas was ne'er recovered. But astir 7 months later, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada's (TSB) investigation reveals what happened successful the vessel's final moments.

According to the TSB study released connected Wednesday, airy fume was disposable successful the motor country soon aft a fume alarm sounded astatine 7:30 p.m. NT. 

"A crew subordinate successful the deckhouse yelled that determination was a occurrence successful the exhaust trunking."

The crew sprung to enactment and unopen disconnected the vessel's engine, removed the exhaust trunking vent from the backmost of the deckhouse and attempted to combat the occurrence with extinguishers. 

Those attempts were not successful. 

The study says the unit of the Elite Navigator were highly skilled successful distress communications, adjacent carrying devices not required by regularisation similar outer connection devices and compartment phones. 

It was that preparedness that led the vessel's captain, Eugene Carter, to nonstop a distress awesome and get his unit into a beingness raft.

The Elite Navigator and its unit was already overdue, with its sportfishing quota met. It was astir 130 nautical miles east-northeast of Fogo Island by the evening of July 17. 

Carter sent distress calls from the vessel's radios and radiotelephone, but was excessively acold distant to scope marine communications and postulation services.

There was nary denotation the calls reached different vessels. Its exigency position-indicating vigor beacon did not acceptable a signal, which the TSB says is apt owed to occurrence damage.

Almost 7 hours later, the Elite Navigator was burned beyond repair and sank into the sea.

After much than 50 hours successful a beingness raft, the unit acceptable disconnected their past flare astatine the show of a helicopter.

All 7 men, present known arsenic the "Lucky Seven," were saved.

The TSB report states that the committee often finds grounds of anemic information cultures, but the Elite Navigator was an exception. 

"The vas carried much information instrumentality than was required by regulation," reads the report. "The maestro and unit members were successful the signifier of talking done exigency scenarios and responses."

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