VICTORIA - BC Ferries says it can't guarantee another of its ships won't crash and sink again because the company doesn't know exactly what went on when the last one sank.
But spokeswoman Deb Marshall says the company does know that some crew members responsible for safely steering the Queen of the North weren't doing their jobs properly.
"I guess we can't guarantee it won't happen again,'' she said.
"While we don't know exactly what was going on on the bridge, we know what wasn't going on on the bridge and that was maintaining a proper lookout.''
Before its report into the March 22, 2006, incident was issued Monday, BC Ferries management had been taking a diplomatic tone when asked what investigators found while looking into the sinking of the 8,800-tonne ferry.
But on Tuesday, a day after the report was released, the tone changed and Marshall said the simple reason the Queen of the North missed a turn, crashed and sank was because the people on the bridge weren't paying attention.
"How can you run into an island if you're paying attention?'' she asked.
Why they weren't paying attention is a question that may only come out in court.
The fourth officer and the second officer, who were responsible for navigating the vessel along British Columbia's remote Inside Passage from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, refused to co-operate with B.C. Ferries investigators on advice of their lawyers.
But a marine legal expert said the two officers could be compelled to provide information if they are subpoenaed to testify at civil or criminal cases.
Several passengers have already launched civil suits after the sinking and the RCMP and Transport Canada are still conducting an investigation that could yield criminal charges.
"Hypothetically, if it goes to court people can be subpoenaed to testify,'' said William Moreira, president of the Canadian Maritime Law Association.
But there are certain court privileges where witnesses are protected from incriminating themselves, said Moreira from Halifax.
The two B.C. ferries officers provided information to a still underway Transportation Safety Board investigation into the sinking, but their accounts are protected from further court action because it's privileged information, said TSB spokesman John Cottreau.
The TSB investigation, which many consider the definitive investigation into the sinking of the Queen of the North, will determine what caused the sinking and its contributing factors, but won't lay blame, he said.
Cottreau said the TSB has the authority to issue subpoenas to potential witnesses.
He said the BC Ferries report "essentially found blame in the accident.''
The TSB report is due within three to six months.
The BC Ferries report concluded the doomed ferry left port in Prince Rupert under routine circumstances and went down shortly after midnight partly because the fourth officer failed to make a course correction.
The ferry report did not identify the fourth and second officers or the quartermaster, but they were identified in court documents filed by passengers suing B.C. Ferries.
Karl Lilgert was the fourth officer that night, while Karen Bricker was the quartermaster and Keven Hilton was the second officer.
The report said the officers refused to provide information about what transpired during a crucial 14 minutes just prior to the vessel's crash into Gil Island at 12:22 a.m.
Bricker told investigators she didn't know where the Queen of the North was when she assumed the job of lookout and she didn't know the ship was cruising toward a crash until she saw trees.
She also said when Lilgert ordered her to turn off the autopilot, she couldn't because she didn't know where the switch was. Investigators said they found that hard to believe.
