One crew member injured in Friday’s sealift barge accident near Iqaluit | CBC News

One crew member was injured in an accident on Friday that caused 20 shipping containers to fall off a sealift barge into in Frobisher Bay, according to the barge operator.

Nunavut Eastern Arctic Shipping (NEAS) stated that one crew member fell into the water during the accident in an update via Facebook at 11:50 p.m. ET on Saturday.

“The crew member is receiving medical attention at the hospital,” the statement said. 

The accident happened on Frobisher Bay late Friday afternoon. By 5 p.m. that day, photos posted to social media showed sea cans scattered around a ship near Iqaluit’s port.  

By low tide on Saturday, some of the sea cans could be seen washed up along Tarr Inlet, close to Apex. 

Some residents gathered at the sea cans, and there were pictures on social media of at least one opened shipping container. 

At around 3:30pm on Saturday, the Government of Nunavut posted an update via Facebook asking residents to stay away from the shipping containers.

“Anyone who takes contents from a sealift container without authorization could face criminal and/or civil penalties,” the announcement warned. 

NEAS said in its earlier statement that the company has been in contact with customers whose shipments may have been lost, and is currently working to recover the shipping containers that fell off the ship.