In the mountains of western Calgary, a crash of a small plane leaves six dead. A pilot and five passengers were on board the small aircraft, which took off at around 9 pm from Springbank Airport close to Calgary, on route to Salmon Arm from a church event, reported by RCMP.
Ryan Singleton, staff Sgt RCMP informed that around 9.30 pm relatives lost contact with the passengers. As hours passed with no communication, the plane was reported overdue, prompting a search by the Winnipeg – based Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
The RCAF squad traced the emergency locating system of the missing plane to Mount Bogart in Kananaskis country, a rocky, steep mountainous area about 100 kilometers west of Calgary. The crash location was few kilometers from Kananaskis village.
The regiment, with the assistance from Alberta Park Mountain Rescue, investigated the crash site for survivors with an unfortunate outcome. Singleton informed that all six individuals in the plane had deceased. The identities of the six victims were not released to the public.
Singleton on behalf of the Alberta RCMP extended his condolences to friends and family of those on board the plane, said at a news briefing.
Alberta Health Services and Kananaskis Emergency Services along with other agencies responded to the emergency, were the tropes had to navigate harsh terrain to locate and recover the bodies. A staging area was set up at Heart Creek Day Use Area, and was closed to the public.
Mountain rescue specialist with Kananaskis country, Mike Koppang, informed that the crew dominated the scene as soon as the information was out on Saturday morning to early hours of the afternoon, however, it was unfortunate that the result was not what they would have liked to see, he informed.
Koppang said, on Friday night as the plane lost communication, the weather conditions in the Kananaskis area were cloudy with low-lying clouds. However, no exact conclusions are made with regard to the crash, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has taken over the investigation which they informed the involvement of a Piper PA32 aircraft. The reason for the crash is still under investigation.
