The owner of the marina where it sank says it's frightening to think what would have happened had passengers been on board.

"It was just sitting here perfectly right there," says Terry Jones. "And then it flipped that way away from the shore and then it rolled over."

Jones thinks a pipe may have frozen and then burst, sending the 700-tonne vessel to the bottom of the lake.

INTERVIEW: B.C. Almanac's Mark Forsythe speaks with Terry Jones.

The owner and a friend scrambled off the hull and swam for shore as the vessel went down in just four minutes.

The vessel was still in service between Balfour and Kootenay Bay less than four years ago.

Then last spring, the Ministry of Transportation sold the MV Anscomb to a private owner, Clay Jones, who planned to use it for dinner cruises and a casino..

Source: http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_ferry20040113