SURREY - The captain of a tugboat and a crew member were rescued Thursday morning after their boat sank on the Fraser River near the Pattullo Bridge.

The tugboat was towing a barge around 8:30 a.m. when it glanced the New Westminster rail bridge and capsized, according to Canadian Coast Guard spokesman Dan Bate. There reportedly is no damage to the rail bridge and it's not yet known if that collision is what caused the boat to turn over.

The captain was helped out of the water by someone on a nearby boat. The barge, manned by the crew member, floated downstream until another boat intercepted it and pulled him to safety.

The New Westminster Police Department, Surrey RCMP, the RCMP Air 1 helicopter and the Coast Guard were on scene, and private vessels helped in the response effort.

The captain was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, while the crew member stationed on the barge the tugboat was towing was checked by emergency personnel at the scene but was uninjured, said New Westminster Staff-Sgt. Paul Hyland.

He said it's too early to say whether the fast-flowing Fraser River - swollen to near flood levels - was a factor in the incident.

- With files from Vancouver Sun, Province and Royal City Record