Lobster fisherman dead after going overboard, 2 others rescued

A 53-year-old Cape Breton man is dead after he went overboard while setting lobster traps in southwestern Nova Scotia on Monday morning, say RCMP.

At about 9 a.m., Barrington RCMP were notified that a man had gone overboard.

Police say the man, who was on a boat called the Cockawit Lady, was pulled out of the water by his fellow crew members who called the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre for help.

Search and rescue technicians were sent by plane and jumped into the water to help. Another fishing vessel picked up the technicians and took them to the Cockawit Lady.

The 53-year-old man and the rescue technicians were picked up by the Canadian Coast Guard ship Clark's Harbour.

"A helicopter came and transported the male to the Yarmouth Regional Hospital and a short while later, the man was pronounced deceased," RCMP Const. Mark Skinner said Monday.

Skinner said the death is not suspicious. The incident is being investigated by the RCMP, Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the provincial Department of Labour and Advanced Education and Occupational Health and Safety.

The deceased man is one of three fishermen who went overboard during Dumping Day, the first day of the lobster fishing season in the area.

In a separate incident, two fishermen on the Nomada Queen 1 were rescued and flown by a Cormorant helicopter to hospital, according to the Canadian military's Joint Task Force Atlantic.

All of the men went overboard about 64 kilometres southwest of Yarmouth.

It's not clear how long the men were in the water.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it has a team heading to Woods Harbour, N.S., to investigate the incidents.