Canoe overturns, killing one

SEQUIM, Wash. – An Indian canoe, part of a summer intertribal canoe journey, overturned near here Wednesday, killing a tribal chief from British Columbia, authorities said.

All six people aboard the canoe were dumped into the Strait of Juan de Fuca off Dungeness Spit, Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said from Seattle. A 55-year-old man died and the others made their way to shore, he said.

The dead man was Chief Jerry Jack of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nations of Gold River, British Columbia, Makah Tribal Chairman Ben Johnson said.

Another man and two women from the canoe were being evaluated at Olympic Memorial Hospital in Port Angeles, a nursing supervisor said Wednesday evening.

The Coast Guard received a report of the overturned canoe shortly before 6 p.m. and dispatched a helicopter and boat from nearby Port Angeles, Eggert said.

Eggert said none of those in the overturned canoe was wearing a life jacket.

Winds in the area were about 35 mph with 5- to 7-foot seas, he said. The water temperature was 54 degrees. He did not know precisely what caused the canoe to overturn.