Queen of the North captain loses court appeal

The captain of a B.C. Ferry that slammed into an island and sank with the loss of two lives in 2006 has lost an appeal to get his job back.

Colin Henthorne was not on the bridge of the Queen of the North when junior officers became distracted and failed to make a course change, allowing the ship to run into Gil island on the north B.C. coast.

He was fired after the sinking but appealed to the Workers Compensation Board, claiming he was sacked because he'd raised safety concerns about his ship.

The WCB overturned his firing,but that decision was later reversed during a WCB appeal.

After a B.C. Supreme Court judge upheld that decision, Henthorne took his case to the B.C. Court of Appeal, which has sided with the lower court ruling, refusing to overturn the firing.

Karl Lilgert, who was the officer in charge of the bridge when the ferry sank, is charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death as a result of the tragedy.