(Adds CEO comments, details)

By Allan Dowd

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct 3 (Reuters) - A ferry that sank on Canada's Pacific coast last year may have had only a single, less-experienced crewman on the bridge when it slammed into an island, the ship's operator said on Wednesday.

BC Ferries said after it released its report on the Queen of the North accident in March that it received information the helmswoman told people during the sinking that bridge officers had not been at their required posts.

BC Ferries acknowledged that contradicts information in its March report, which concluded that human error was the likely cause but said at least one officer was on the bridge to help steer the ship.

The provincial ferry with 101 people on board sank in the middle of the night March 22, 2006, near Hartley Bay, British Columbia, on a coastal route traveled by thousands of summer tourists annually.

Ninety-nine people were rescued by residents of the isolated coastal community, but two passengers went down with the ship that was making a scheduled run from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy.

The March report quoted the helmswoman as saying she was never alone on the bridge, and that she and a senior officer had tried to avoid hitting the large island by turning off the ferry's autopilot at the last minute.

The two officers assigned to the bridge that night refused to talk to investigators.

Two non-bridge employees contacted investigators after the report was released, BC Ferries said.

"Just prior to us both getting into one of the rafts (the quartermaster) said; 'It is not my fault, it was not my fault, I was left alone," BC Ferries quoted one of the new unnamed witnesses as telling investigators.

The cause of the accident is still under investigation by Canada's Transportation Safety Board, which is expected to release its report by the end of the year. The new information may delay the report's release, an official said.

BC Ferries Chief Executive David Hann said some questions may never be answered. "This is a pretty unique situation. I don't know if we'll ever know 100 percent what happened," he told CKNW Radio.

The company's report in March said there were malfunctions with the Queen of the North's autopilot system, and the ship sailed on the wrong course for 14 minutes before it slammed into Gil Island.

BC Ferries is a semi-independent provincial company. The car ferries act as an extension of the province's highway system, linking islands and some isolated coastal communities to the mainland and Vancouver.

AlertNet news is provided by