Sandspit residents survive aircraft crash near Bella Bella
Four Sandspit residents are lucky to have survived a seaplane crash near Bella Bella on Friday.
Members
of the RCMP West Coast Marine Service were not scheduled to be in the
area when they heard a Mayday on the VHF radio of the RCMP vessel
Lindsay at Shearwater. The plane had crashed and was on fire just north
of St. John Harbour, near the south entrance of Seaforth Channel,
approximately one hour from the vessel's current location.
Sgt.
Rob Pikola had Const. Roe and Const. Judd take the 733 Ridged Hull
Inflatable fast response vessel to quickly arrive on-scene, with Pikola,
Const. Miles and civilian member Butler arriving just under one hour
later. Help for the passengers of the burning plane also came from an
unexpected boar in nearby waters.
"Due to the quick response of
our members involved, everyone on the downed Beaver floatplane received
medical treatment within 30 minutes of the crash. Not only was it
fortunate that we were close by, but there was a fishing charter boat in
the area that had 6 medical doctors on board who were from the Williams
Lake and Vanderhoof area," said Pikola.
The Canadian Coast Guard
vessel Cape Farewell also attended the scene, as well as search and
rescue helicopters and Buffalo aircraft. Members of the Lindsay were
able to assist with the transport of two passengers while two more
seriously injured passengers were transported to the Bella Bella
hospital by the Cape Farewell.
The aircraft was burned beyond
recovery and was located just above the high tide line. The company that
owns the seaplane was not identified by RCMP.
Story, photo and comments: http://www.thenorthernview.com
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