The death of Kulwant Singh Chohan was reported to the BC Coroners Service on June 13, 2020 by the Richmond RCMP.
VANCOUVER — The drowning death of a BC Ferries welder after falling from a ferry he was working on was accidental, the Coroners Service of BC has ruled.
The death of Kulwant Singh Chohan was reported to the BC Coroners Service on June 13, 2020 by the Richmond RCMP.
Chohan was an experienced welder employed by the ferry service for more than two decades. Although he was highly qualified for his job, he was not a strong swimmer, the medical examiner’s report said.
On June 12, he and a crew were performing scheduled maintenance on the ferry Northern Sea Wolf while it was docked on the Fraser River in Richmond. His family reported Chohan missing that evening when he did not return home.
Video footage shows Chohan standing on the ferry ramp around 12:30 p.m., holding a pike pole – a long rod with a sharp tip – trying to retrieve a kneeling that had fallen into the water.
“He was reaching for and onto a canvas panel at the edge of the ramp farthest from the ship when the panel broke from its support system and Kulwant Chohan fell into the water below,” Coroner Cynthia Hogan’s report said. “He disappeared from video view at that time, unnoticed.”
His body was recovered the next day from five meters of water under the ferry, still wearing his heavy work clothes and boots and without a personal flotation device.
WorkSafe BC was called in to investigate the death. That investigation found that a year earlier, “eight steel handrails on the ship’s boarding ramp had been replaced with six aluminum handrails and two canvas strap panels.”
It was one of those canvas rails that gave way under his weight, causing Chohan to fall.
An autopsy found drowning to be the cause of death, with a pre-existing serious heart condition a contributing factor. Toxicology results were negative for all substances.
BC Ferries has since installed aluminum safety rails on the ramp so workers can’t get within two meters of the edge, ordered employees to wear flotation devices in such situations and offered training on water rescue and what to do in the event of a cold fall water.
Because the ferry corporation had already paid a fine and made safety improvements to avoid similar deaths in the future, the coroner made no further recommendations.
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