A plane that one witness describes as crashing in a “huge explosion” that left multiple people dead in British Columbia has been identified as a twin-engine propeller aircraft.
The B.C. Coroners Service and the RCMP confirm there were multiple fatalities when the small plane went down around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday on the northwest corner of Gabriola Island, near Nanaimo. According to the RCMP, there were no survivors and no one else was injured in the crash.
The Transportation Safety Board says it is investigating the crash of a piston twin-engine aircraft.
Dave Holme said he saw the plane hurtle toward the ground and ran to look for survivors.
“I saw the plane spiralling toward the ground. The engines were going ... but they didn’t sound normal,” Holme recalled Wednesday.
“About five houses down from us, I saw it nose-dive into the ground, and then the explosion was just immense ... all the houses completely shook.”
Holme said he ran into the bushes at the crash site and yelled to see if anyone was alive and able to respond.
“I was probably within, I’d have to say, five feet of the fuselage ... and just fire – all around me, the ground was literally on fire.
“I saw the rear end of the plane sticking out of the ground. ... I couldn’t see any wings. Part of the motor was on one part of the property and the other part of the motor was over on the other side of the property. It hit with such force, it just disintegrated the plane.”
Three investigators from the Transportation Safety Board were expected to arrive at the crash site today.
No other details have been released about the plane or the number of passengers who were on board.
The plane crashed in thick brush and scorch marks were visible on trees in the area of the crash, which is near a beach.
B.C. RCMP spokesman Cpl. Chris Manseau said the plane crashed in a residential area, near Ricardo Road and Decourcy Drive, close to Twin Beaches.
It’s “horrible” and tragic for the families of the several deceased and for those nearby residents who saw the plane crash, Manseau said.
Luckily, no houses were hit as the plane descended, he said.
“It’s a small island where people go to lead a quiet life,” Manseau said. “This is a tragedy for the families involved and all the people on the Island as well.”
RCMP are at the crash scene awaiting the arrival of three Transportation Safety Board investigators, expected around noon today.
The TSB will be the authority to officially say how many passengers were listed on the plane’s manifest, the scheduled departure and arrival destinations, and type of plane.
Andy Watson of the B.C. Coroners Service said the coroners service special investigation unit, which arrived this morning, will determine who died and what happened. Multiple fatalities are confirmed, he said.
“Because of the nature of plane crashes, this event will be investigated in partnership with the Transportation Safety Board, who have been notified and will be attending the scene on Dec. 11,” Watson said in an email. “The crash scene will be held by the Gabriola RCMP until the arrival of the TSB.”
Identifying who is dead and the number dead could involve matching multiple pieces of information including the plane’s manifest, identification found at the scene, and identification of the human remains. To ensure accuracy, this may be a slow process, Watson explained.
“That is something we will release as soon as we’re confident in that information,” Watson said. “We’re working on it but we’re going to wait until we’re 100 per cent confident in our information before we release that.”
Gabriola resident Jean Wyenberg said it was still dark and foggy this morning, just as it was last night when the crash occurred.
Wyenberg had the television on when she heard a loud explosion, “like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It was loud. It was pretty scary; you just don’t know what it is.”
“I just heard this huge explosion,” she said. “I thought 'OK, I’m still here so what the hell was it?'”
Wyenberg called 911 and helped direct emergency vehicles to the site on Decourcy Drive. She didn’t go into the crash scene, saying she wanted to let emergency responders already there do their work uninterrupted by onlookers.
“My neighbour heard the plane in trouble and then heard the crash,” Wyenberg said. “Other people physically saw it. I can’t even imagine what that would have been like.”
Wyenberg said as the reality of the crash sets in, more are affected.
“How terrifying that must have been to be in that plane and realize what was about to happen,” she said. “And it must have been horrifying for those who saw it.”
Gabriola resident Blair Mann lives near the crash site and said in an interview the plane went down in a small wooded park.
“Miraculously, it missed all the homes, the houses,” said a shaken and distraught Mann.
“I don’t know how he did it but he missed all the houses.”
He said he was watching the evening news when explosions shook his entire house.
“There were multiple explosions,” he said.
B.C. Emergency Health Services said two ambulances stationed on the island were dispatched to the scene and five others joined them by ferry.
Bette Lou Hagen, who lives in the area of the crash, said she was reading a novel when she heard “like a loud sonic boom or something. I heard a loud engine — it didn’t sound like a car engine – but it was really shaking my house and then I heard a loud crash and then I don’t how much later it was I heard an explosion,” she said. She went outside but could not see much because the area has a lot of trees, and then called the police.
The plane crashed about 50 metres from her backyard.
“It was pretty awful. I’m still shaking.”
— Cindy E. Harnett With files from Richard Watts and The Canadian Press
