There were tense moments on a BC Ferries vessel after a passenger fell overboard Wednesday afternoon.

The company said the incident happened around 1 p.m., not long after the Spirit of Vancouver Island had departed from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal.

The ferry was approximately two kilometres from shore when someone plummeted into the water on the starboard side, in what a BC Ferries spokesperson confirmed was an accident.

Alexander Westersund was among the passengers on board, and said the emergency was announced over the PA system: “Man overboard, man overboard.”

The rescue was underway within minutes, Westersund said.

“They’ve trained for this and you could tell,” he said. “It wasn’t panic mode for them, it was game time.”

Crews from that vessel and the Queen of New Westminster bo