BC Ferries' ''M/V Queen of the North'' runs aground on Gil Island British Columbia and sinks; 101 on board, 2 presumed deaths.

The captain was not on the bridge. At 12:26 AM on March 22, 2006, the BC Ferries vessel Queen of the North missed a critical course change in Wright Sound, British Columbia, and drove straight into Gil Island at 17.5 knots. The 125-meter ferry sank within an hour, killing two passengers whose bodies were never recovered. The remaining 99 people aboard survived by evacuating into lifeboats in the freezing darkness. Fourth Officer Karl Lilgert and Quartermaster Karen Briker were the only crew members on the bridge during the approach to the turn at Sainty Point, a well-charted navigation waypoint that required a 28-degree course change. Neither made the turn. Investigators later determined the vessel traveled straight past the waypoint for approximately four minutes before striking the island, suggesting neither officer was monitoring the vessel's position. The Transportation Safety Board investigation revealed systemic failures beyond the bridge crew's inattention. The vessel's voyage data recorder had been inoperative for years. BC Ferries had no policy requiring a lookout on the bridge at night, and the captain's standing orders for the route were vague. Lilgert was later convicted of criminal negligence causing death, becoming one of the few Canadian mariners ever prosecuted for a navigation error. The sinking prompted a sweeping overhaul of BC Ferries' safety procedures, including mandatory bridge resource management training, operational voyage data recorders, and stricter overnight watch protocols. The Queen of the North remains on the ocean floor at a depth of 427 meters, still leaking fuel oil decades later, a slow-motion environmental hazard that the province has never fully addressed.