VICTORIA — Rescuers have expanded the search area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island as they look for any sign of two crab fishermen.
The unnamed men were reported overdue early Sunday morning, almost two days after they set out from the Port Renfrew area, about 100 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
They were in a three-metre aluminum skiff.
Lt. Greg Menzies with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre says high winds and powerful waves complicated search efforts Sunday, but he believes conditions have improved.
He says the search grid has now been expanded to account for drift patterns caused by winds and tides.
Two aircraft and several vessels, including a U.S. Coast Guard ship, are scouring the waters of Juan de Fuca Strait while Menzies says RCMP out of Port Renfrew are co-ordinating the shoreline search.
