London - A British executive at Microsoft and his 17-year-old son were among those who died when a whale-watching boat sank off Canada.
David Thomas, 50, described by a former colleague as a technology “guru”, died with his son Stephen, a talented photographer, when the boat went down near the village of Tofino in British Columbia on Sunday. Mr Thomas's wife Julie, 49, survived with minor injuries. The family are from Swindon in Wiltshire.
Six people are thought to have died when the 65ft Leviathan II, carrying 27 people, sank in the Plover Reefs sea area. Five were identified as British nationals by the British Columbia Coroners Service.
The other three are Nigel Hooker, 63, from Southampton, and Katie Taylor, 29, and Jack Slater, 76, who were both expats living in Canada. A 27-year-old man from Sydney, Australia, remains missing.
Mr Slater's daughter, Michele Slater-Brown, paid tribute to her “adventurer” father on Facebook, saying: “Our Dad was larger than life, a charmer, handsome, entrepreneur, engineer in the Navy. I will miss him forever.”
Tributes were also paid to Mr Thomas and his son, who last year won a national photography competition for people with Down's syndrome.
Stephen Thomas was described by Sue Banks, his former headteacher at Isambard Community School in Swindon, as “a role model”.
“He never used the term 'I can't' and was constantly smiling,” she said.
An adult member of the Swindon Down's Syndrome group reportedly said that trying to tell the children there that they would never see Stephen again was going to be “impossible”. Carol Boys, the chief executive of the Down's Syndrome Association, said: “Everyone was deeply saddened. Stephen was a very talented young man. David was one of the driving forces behind the Swindon Down's Syndrome Group, where he was a trustee.”
Before becoming managing architect at Microsoft's UK headquarters in Reading, Mr Thomas had been head of IT enterprise architecture at Nationwide building society. On his LinkedIn page, a former Nationwide colleague described him as “an undoubted guru when it comes to technology, but, importantly, also someone who takes time to foster collaboration, support and understanding among his colleagues”.
A local fisherman, Ken Lucas, told Global News that he helped rescue a crew member who told him Leviathan II had “capsized from a wave. It took a wave from the broadside and flipped on its side”.
Jamie Bray, the owner of Jamie's Whaling Station, which operated Leviathan II, said: “This is an area the boat goes to every day. It has operated for 20 years with a perfect safety record. We just don't understand.”
The Independent