Tofino search suspended for man missing since boat capsized

Poor weather has suspended the search for a missing Australian man near Tofino, B.C., just as the man's family arrived from Sydney.

Ravisham Pillay, 27, has not been seen since the whale-watching boat MV Leviathan II capsized on Sunday with 27 passengers and crew aboard.

Five British citizens died after the boat went down, and 21 people were plucked from the water by locals who responded to a flare and radio calls.

Despite two days of searching at the site on the west coast of Vargas Island in Clayoquot Sound, Pillay has not been found. He is presumed dead.

On Wednesday morning, RCMP divers set out to continue what they are calling a recovery operation, but the team had to call off the search after it encountered three- to four-metre swells.

Const. Jim Preston said the team had to turn back for safety reasons.

"I could stick a diver in the water, but I wouldn't be able to recover that diver at all," he said.

Preston said if there is a break in the weather, the search could resume later this afternoon.

Pillay's mother spoke briefly to the media at Vancouver International Airport on Wednesday morning, where a large number of family members arrived in the company of Australian consular officials. She said she did not want to make a statement, but the family would issue one later.

British Consul General Rupert Potter said Tuesday that several families of the other victims and survivors were also travelling to Tofino from the U.K. and would likely be arriving today.

Young victim remembered

Yesterday, the B.C. coroners service confirmed the identities of the five Britons who died. Two were living in Canada, but still held British passports.

In the U.K., a former colleague of one of the victims — Katie Taylor, 29 — spoke about the energetic woman.

"She was kind of like a ray of sunshine really," said Phil Jones, who worked with Taylor before she moved to Whistler.

"It was a terrible shock. We'd obviously heard about the boat capsizing and that there were people killed, but it was only last night that I found out through Facebook that she was one of the people so sadly killed," he said.

"Nobody wants anyone to die at any age. But as a 29-year-old young woman with a world in front of her, with such a  zest for life, such a passion for it ... it was awful," he said.

Jones said he now sadly regrets not meeting up with Taylor during a recent trip to Whistler.

"You always think you've got more time, and now there is no more time," he said,