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Asleep at helm in boat crash

A boater was asleep at the helm when his 30-foot vessel slammed into a breakwater at a Campbell River marina on Thursday.

Shocked ferry passengers watched the scene unfold as they docked at Discovery Harbour.

The ferry captain sounded his horn to warn the boater, to no avail.

Passenger Chris Chambers captured images of the crash from the car deck of the ferry.

"After he hit the rocks, he bounced back and the tide took him into the channel. He was just drifting around out of control," Chambers told CTV.

The ferry crew launched a rescue boat and determined the boater had fallen asleep.

The boat made it back into the marina under its own power, but was damaged in the collision.

– with files from CTV Vancouver Island



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