Transportation Safety Board may not investigate lifeboat incident

A month after the incident, confusion continues about exactly what happened aboard a Marine Atlantic lifeboat during a mock disaster.

The Transportation Safety Board is looking at the situation but has not yet determined if an incident occurred that would require an investigation. The board investigates marine and other incidents to determine why an accident happened and how safety can be improved.

"Up to now, we haven't been able to clarify if there was indeed an incident," said Capt. Pierre Murray of the safety board.

He said the board must ensure it is on the right track before committing resources to an investigation. A decision may be made this week.

The incident during the mock disaster exercise in Corner Brook on Sept. 27 sent more than a dozen people to local hospital. Three were later transported to hospital in St. John's and seven were being monitored for the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning more than a week later.

When asked about the individuals who were sent to hospital, Capt. Murray said that doesn't necessarily mean they were ill. He said the reports the safety board has received have conflicting information, with some saying something happened and others saying there was nothing.

One St. John's doctor, however, has no doubt that carbon monoxide caused illness among some of the mock disaster participants.

Dr. Ken LeDez, head of the hyperbaric medicine program, was consulted by physicians at Western Memorial and later was primarily responsible for treatment of the patients in St. John's. He has more than 20 years experience in hyperbaric medicine and treatment of carbon monoxide exposure.

"It is a medical certainty that people were exposed to carbon monoxide," said Dr. LeDez. "There is no question in my mind about that, and that is based on the assessment of a number of individuals and on testing."

The doctor said the variance of exposure ranged from "relatively minor to strong modest," but couldn't divulge any specific information. He said he is continuing to "follow" some of those involved.

Marine Atlantic has said subsequent testing revealed no air quality issues.

Dr. LeDez pointed out the testing was done under different circumstances, on a different day.

"All that matters is, on that day, those people were exposed to carbon monoxide," he said. "... It is very difficult to recreate those circumstances of that particular time. I want to emphasize that there doesn't have to be any malfunction of equipment for carbon monoxide poisoning to occur."

All the people who became ill were volunteers with the provincial search and rescue association.

Transport Canada is continuing to investigate the incident from an enforcement point of view to determine if charges will be laid under the labour code and the shipping act.

Spokesperson Maurice Landry explained investigators will need to understand what happened to make that determination, but that's not the focus of the Transport Canada investigation.

nmusseau@gulfnews.ca