A small commuter plane carrying workers to a mine in Canada’s far north crashed shortly after takeoff on Tuesday, killing six people. The survivor’s condition was not disclosed.
The federal police and military responded to the crash in the Northwest Territories. Canadian Rangers riding snowmobiles discovered the wreckage while search and rescue personnel parachuted down from a Hercules aircraft.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario with the jet was lost shortly after it took off from Fort Smith, about 8:50 a.m. local time, 320 kilometres (200 miles) southwest of Yellowknife, the regional capital.
The town’s hospital stated it activated its mass casualty protocol, while the Arctic territory’s chief coroner, Garth Eggerberger, remarked, “There are fatalities”, without providing any further information.
Northwestern Air, which flew the Jetstream twin turboprop planes, said it was a charter flight transporting workers to a mine. It crashed 1.1 kilometres (0.7 miles) from the end of the runway.
All flights from Fort Smith are grounded until Wednesday.
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board dispatched a team to investigate the accident.
