Recovery efforts for plane crash called off
Posted January 27, 2013 12:44 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND (NEWS1130) – Rescue efforts to recover the bodies of three Canadians after a plane crash in Antarctica last week have been delayed because crews say it would be unsafe to further disturb the wreckage.
One of the agencies investigating says poor winter weather will hold up the recovery operation until the next Antarctic research season, which coincides with the polar region’s period of 24-hour sunlight.
Peter West of the US National Science Foundation says crews have retrieved some equipment from the Twin Otter aircraft, which is largely embedded in a steep slope near the summit of Mount Elizabeth on the Queen Alexandra range.
Among those items is the cockpit voice recorder, a tool that should help aviation authorities learn more about what caused the plane to go down. The New Zealand Rescue Co-Ordination Centre has said the aircraft appears to have been on course but may have turned too early while flying through a mountain range.
The plane is operated by Calgary-based Kenn Borek Air and was reported missing after it failed to reach its destination by Wednesday.
