Float plane crash near Sechelt on the Sunshine Coast
Posted July 30, 2019 1:22 pm.
Last Updated July 30, 2019 11:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Sechelt, B.C. (NEWS 1130) — A pilot and two passengers in a float plane crash near Sechelt, B.C. are all accounted for after the plane crashed into the water.
Police say they were lucky a nearby tugboat was able to get to rescue the passengers of the de Havilland Beaver. The float plane has now sunk.
Cst. Karen Whitby with Sunshine Coast RCMP says they received the call at 12:55 p.m. and responded along with the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
“[The tugboat] was able to drop his load and pick up the three occupants,” says Whitby. “Very fortunately, they were not injured.”
A hovercraft picked up the three individuals from the tugboat and transported them into Davis Bay where BC Emergency Health Services was able to look them over.
“Looks like it’s just minor injuries at this point, but they have been transported to Sechelt Hospital just for an assessment,” says Whitby.
Several people saw the plane go down including Ian Bolden who was paddling his canoe in the area.
“I just noticed the plane circle very low, which is not unusual, then it seemed to go very low, and then it turned into the wind and then disappeared. It was a big splash when it hit the water,” he says.
Then he saw the tug boat.
“Tug boat went out, it was towing a barge, and then it cut its barge free, and blasted out to where the crash site was and picked the people up,” he says. “Blasted out to where the crash site was and picked the people up, which were then transferred to the coast guard hovercraft, and then the hovercraft brought them to shore.”
The float plane has since sunk.
The investigation will be taken over by Transport Canada to understand exactly what happened.
