Two people are dead and three others were treated and released from hospital Sunday after a fishing boat went down off the west coast of Vancouver Island, near Tofino.

Tofino RCMP confirmed five men were aboard the vessel when it took on water and capsized. All five men were taken to local hospital, but two men, aged 32 and 42 - both from Alberta - have been confirmed deceased by the BC Coroner Services.

The 8.5-metre-long catamaran was fishing for halibut near Bartlett Island, north of Tofino, on Sunday afternoon, said Coast Guard spokesman Dan Bate in a statement.

Courtenay pilot Malcolm Fletcher, who works for Tofino-based Atleo River Air Service, was preparing for a day of flying charter when he joined in the search near the Island.

He was the first person to spot the capsized boat in the water.

鈥淕enerally you鈥檇 have a spotter, but I was (flying) solo. I started doing a grid pattern (search) and I was getting further out. Maybe 10 minutes into it, I saw a part of the capsized boat and saw five red spots - that鈥檚 generally indicative of someone wearing immersion suits.鈥�

Fletcher explained he was flying about 1,000 feet above the water, which was difficult to see due to 鈥渟trong whitecapping westerly winds.鈥�

The boat managed to get a distress call in with a rough location, he noted, but there was no specific GPS location on the boat. Once he located the position, he transmitted the information to a nearby Buffalo plane from CFB Comox which was dispatched to look for the passengers, and subsequently dropped flares.

鈥淎 lot of the islands aren鈥檛 on standard maps, so it鈥檚 really important to have local knowledge,鈥� said Fletcher.

Sub-Lt. Melissa Kia with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria confirmed someone on the boat made a distress call around 1:20 p.m.

鈥淲e were able to talk with the vessel, live, to confirm that the five passengers were abandoning into the water. While the boat was attempting to get in a better position to speak with us via cellphone, it lost communications with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre,鈥� she said.

All five people were recovered from the water by two vessels of opportunity (non-Coast Guard boats) that were very close to the position, added Kia.

The boats linked up with the Coast Guard, and an off-duty paramedic provided CPR to one passenger while a Coast Guard Rescue Specialist tried to resuscitate another.

Fletcher said he credits his job with keeping a precise eye on the local waters.

鈥淚 do a lot of spotting for scenic tours (of Tofino). We spend a lot of time whale watching and trying to scan the ocean - those skills really helped.鈥�

After finishing his charter flights later in the day, Fletcher returned to Courtenay where he described the day as 鈥渟urreal, especially since it鈥檚 not very long since the Leviathan went down.鈥�

He noted the vessel on Sunday was located near the location where the whale watching vessel Leviathan II capsized in October 2015 with 27 people on board. Six people died in that incident.

Tofino RCMP will be assisting RCMP West Coast Marine Services and the Transportation Safety Board in the investigation and in determining the cause.

- With files from Canadian Press