An inquest looking into a fatal boat crash that happened on Lake Wanapitei five years ago got underway in Sudbury on Monday.
And it could have implications for 9-1-1 dispatch and emergency responders across the province.
The lone survivor of the boating tragedy, Rob Dorzek, fought back tears as he described the moments after the crash. Recordings of his 9-1-1 calls for help were heard in the courtroom as well.
Prabu Rajan is the coroner's counsel for the inquest.
“Really horrible situation, scary situation, and at times you do hear Mr. Kritz in the background. Frankly, it's just really the trauma that you can hear Mr. Dorzek experiencing." said Rajan.
Stephanie Bertrand, Matthew Humeniuk and Michael Kritz died when the boat they were on crashed into an island on Lake Wanapitei on June 30th, 2013.
Dorzek had difficulties connecting with 9-1-1 and it took a long time for first responders to arrive, partly because emergency operators had trouble locating him.
The inquest is looking into the deaths in this incident, as well as the death of a fourth person in an unrelated occurrence to see if improvements can be made to the 9-1-1 system.
Humeniuk's sister, Toni Kritz-Roque, hopes the inquest will help prevent future deaths.
“We're hoping that by being here today, we're helping the jury to make some good recommendations about how to improve the 9-1-1 system." said Kritz-Roque.
The inquest will continue for the rest of the week in Sudbury before moving to Ottawa next week.
In Ottawa, the inquest will consider the death of a woman in another case from 2014.
