Ottawa: At least six persons were killed when a small commuter plane carrying workers to a mine in Canada’s far north crashed Tuesday shortly after taking off.
The incident occurred at around 8:50 am local time when the Jetstream twin turboprop airliner operated by Northwestern Air went down just 1.1 kilometres from the end of the runway in Fort Smith.
One person survived, according to this aviation source with knowledge of the crash probe, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media. The survivor’s condition was not released.
Canadian Rangers on snowmobiles located the wreckage of the craft, while search and rescue technicians parachuted into the scene.
Northwestern Air revealed that the ill-fated flight was a charter carrying workers to a mine. All flights departing from Fort Smith have been grounded until Wednesday as authorities begin their investigations. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team to scrutinise the accident.
