{"id":14362,"date":"2025-01-28T00:37:03","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T00:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/navy-identifies-sailor-who-died-in-halifax-area-basin-incident-says-911-call-came-in\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T00:37:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T00:37:03","slug":"navy-identifies-sailor-who-died-in-halifax-area-basin-incident-says-911-call-came-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/navy-identifies-sailor-who-died-in-halifax-area-basin-incident-says-911-call-came-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy identifies sailor who died in Halifax-area basin incident, says 911 call came in"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Royal Canadian Navy<\/a> has identified the sailor who died last week, and has revealed a fellow sailor called 911 when their inflatable vessel capsized in a Halifax-area bay.<\/p>\n

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Petty Officer Second Class Gregory Applin, 38, of HMCS Montreal was a weapons engineering technician who had just returned from a deployment to the Indo-Pacific in October. He had served with the navy for 19 years.<\/p>\n

Applin and another sailor were aboard a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) in the Bedford Basin<\/a> when it overturned and capsized around 10 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

Commodore Jacob French, commander of the Canadian Fleet Atlantic, told reporters Monday that crew had been taking part in sea trials on HMCS Montreal.<\/p>\n

After the day\u2019s trials were complete, a 24-feet-long RIB was used to bring the crew from HMCS Montreal ashore to Mill Cove Jetty \u2014 about a mile away.<\/p>\n

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Once the crew members were dropped off, Applin and the coxswain from the Naval Fleet School set off on the inflatable boat to return to the dockyard.<\/p>\n

French said the trip from the jetty to the dockyard should have taken about 10 minutes. He said there were \u201capproximately five to 10 knot winds\u201d and \u201cwaves were less than a meter \u2014 wasn\u2019t that wavy in the harbour in that particular evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cAn incident occurred which caused the RIB to capsize, throwing both sailors into the water. The radio was not available to the boat\u2019s coxswain, so the boat coxswain used his cell phone to call 911,\u201d said French, who added that the radio was unreachable because it was on the capsized boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 911 call triggered an immediate response by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC), who deployed a Halifax pilot boat which affected the rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tCommodore Jacob French, commander of the Canadian Fleet Atlantic, addresses the media on Jan. 27, 2025.\t\t\t\t<\/span>
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\n\t\t\t\t\tHeidi Petracek\/Global News\t\t\t\t<\/cite>
\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n