Police say two fishermen have died and another man was taken to hospital today after a fishing boat capsized off the shore of a community in northern New Brunswick.
The RCMP say the incident occurred early Thursday morning off the Miller Brook wharf near Salmon Beach, about 11 kilometres from downtown Bathurst.
One fisherman says the two men that died were known to everyone in the community– one a 45-year-old man from Bathurst, the other a 67-year-old man from Salmon Beach.
Sergeant Ben Jolette from the North East detachment of RCMP says indications suggest the crew’s fishing gear got caught on the bottom. Their boat was then capsized by waves – throwing the men into the water.
Fishermen from another boat fishing lobster in the Bay of Chaleur retrieved the bodies of the two men and rescued the third man.
The man who was rescued was treated in hospital for hypothermia and has since been released.
The accident has hit the New Brunswick fishing community hard – there are only around 18 boats that fish from the Miller Rook wharf near Janeville, N.B.
The men’s boat now sits on the shore covered with a tarp.
The accident happened just two weeks before the end of the lobster season.
With files from CTV’s Jonathan MacInnis.
