a post<\/a> to social media, the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue said it was called in to help evacuate students and their chaperoning parents at 8:51 p.m., adding “the kids had a boat ride they likely won\u2019t ever forget.”<\/p>\nNelson-Quine said a “loud gurgle” was heard over the loud music, coming from the bottom of the vessel when the boat stopped, which tilted on an angle when stuck. <\/p>\n
There was some confusion and fear among passengers, added Nelson-Quine, until the Coast Guard arrived about an hour later.<\/p>\n
![\"Passengers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792964411_81_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The event was PAC-funded and organized by parents. (Submitted by Sally Cullen)<\/p>\n
But as time went on, Nelson-Quine said the unique experience brought students together, even sparking new friendships, while some other students were comforted by their peers.<\/p>\n
All passengers were safely transported to Vancouver\u2019s Harbour Green Park, where they were met by their parents and guardians, according to search and rescue.<\/p>\n
The Coast Guard said in an email no water entered the vessel after it ran aground. It deployed the Siyay hovercraft and safely evacuated all passengers.<\/p>\n
The vessel\u2019s crew remained on board, the agency said, until the vessel could be refloated with the rising tide early Saturday morning and then berthed in Coal Harbour.<\/p>\n
Cut short<\/p>\n
To reach the hovercraft, students and chaperones descended a ladder and walked roughly 20 metres across a fully exposed sandbar, Nelson-Quine said, which was difficult for some students wearing heeled shoes.<\/p>\n
“They had to take them off and walk across all these barnacles and some of them were carried across the ground because of how sharp it was.”<\/p>\n
![\"Students](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792964411_550_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
About 150 high school students and chaperoning parents were evacuated in two trips on a hovercraft. (Submitted by Cady Nelson-Quine)<\/p>\n
But Catie Craven, graduating class president, said much of the cruise was spent eating, without a lot of time to dance and celebrate before it was cut short.<\/p>\n
She said panic filled the room at first, and a lot of parents called the police after hearing the boat was tipped on an angle.<\/p>\n
“It kind of just ruined the rest of the night for a lot of people,” said Craven. “Some people are really annoyed about it, some people are upset.”<\/p>\n
Craven hopes another night of celebration will be arranged to make up for some lost time.<\/p>\n
Organizers<\/p>\n
Penny Gill, who attended the event as a parent chaperone, described the night as a “surreal experience.”<\/p>\n
“Did that really happen?” she said.<\/p>\n
She said she got to see kids form new bonds and strengthen their relationships during a night “these kids will have forever.”<\/p>\n
Gill said she and another parent were among the last to be evacuated, and she didn’t get home until 1 a.m.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the North Vancouver School District said the event was not a school-sanctioned event, rather it was hosted by parent organizers and the school had no involvement in the planning of it.<\/p>\n
The district said it is grateful for authorities who responded to the emergency and safely evacuated all passengers to shore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-946162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n