hour journey from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy, near the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Officials said all aboard the ship were accounted for, but because of confusion over the number of passengers, vessels continued to search after daybreak to make sure nobody was left behind in the water. The ferry sank along a popular route for cruise ships that travel the coast from Vancouver and Seattle to Alaska each summer, carrying thousands of tourists. A Canadian Coast Guard boat, the Sir Wilfred Laurier, was on patrol in the area and responded to the ferry's distress call, reaching the scene at about 2:15 a.m., officials said. B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said the cause of the accident is being investigated, but it was believed that the ferry hit a rock. "It is impossible for me to conjecture why it ended up where it did," Hahn told reporters outside the ferry service's headquarters in the British Columbia capital of Victoria. The water was reported rough in the area of the accident, but it was unclear if weather played a role in the accident. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are heading to the scene. British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell defended the province's ferry fleet, although he acknowledged that the Queen of the North was one of the fleet's older vessels, and was being eyed for replacement because it only had a single hull. "The fleet is safe. Not only is the fleet safe, but it is manned by professional crews that are trained in safety," Campbell said in a radio station interview. The ship was built in 1969 and received a major overhaul in 2001. --SP 22 52 Local Time 19 52 GMT
