Send this page to someone via email At least one person is dead after a small plane crashed north of Smithers, B.C. Saturday morning, RCMP confirm. Cpl. Madonna Saunderson said police were called to the wreckage of a Cessna 182 roughly 100 km northeast of the town in the Smithers Landing area. The plane is capable of holding four passengers, but Saunderson could not say how many people were on board nor how many were killed. On Sunday, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) confirmed one pilot and three passengers were on board, but could not say if there were any survivors. WATCH: (Aired May 1) Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 1:36 Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 – May 1, 2019 Police are working with Transport Canada and the B.C. Coroners Service to investigate the cause of the crash and the identity of the person or people killed. Story continues below advertisement The aircraft’s origin and intended destination are not yet known. The TSB has sent an investigating team to the site to look into the cause of the crash and where the plane was headed. The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said they received an emergency notification from the plane’s transmitter at around 8:45 a.m. Crews were dispatched by plane and helicopter to locate the crash site, and began to arrive around noon. Rescue workers entered the site in the afternoon, but would not provide details about what they found before turning the scene over to RCMP. The TSB said it would have more information later Sunday.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has released its first update on an investigation into a plane crash near Smithers that left three people dead. Four BC Wildfire Service contractors were aboard the Cessna 182E when it went down about 100 kilometres northeast of the town in the Smithers Landing area on Saturday. One was taken to hospital. View image in full screen The site of a fatal plane crash in northern B.C. on Saturday. Transportation Safety Board The TSB says the aircraft, which was operated by Lakes District Air Services, was about three hours into an aerial mapping flight when the pilot transmitted a mayday and communication was lost. Story continues below advertisement The agency says the aircraft was destroyed due to its collision with the terrain, and there was no post-impact fire. Two of the three people killed in the crash have been identified: Lorne Borgal of Vancouver, CEO and founder of aerial mapping company Precision Vectors, and Amir Sedghi, a Precision Vectors analyst. The third victim is believed to have been the plane’s pilot, while the identity of the injured person remains unknown. The TSB and the B.C. Coroners Service are both investigating.<doc-sep>CBC News has identified two of the men who died in a small plane crash northeast of Smithers, B.C., on Saturday. The crash killed three people and injured one. One of the victims was 26-year-old Amir Ilya Sedghi. His brother Ammar Sedghi says his family is devastated, and adds that Amir was always full of life. "He was loving and he had a unique sense of humour," Ammar said about Amir. "The most intense situations ... He could just crack a joke and make everyone laugh." WATCH: Amir Sedghi's family speaks to CBC following his death in a plane crash Family of Smithers plane crash victim mourn their loss CBC News Vancouver at 6 1:58 Ammar Sedghi, whose brother Amir Sedghi died in a plane crash on Saturday, May 4, says Amir had a calming presence. 1:58 Above all, Ammar says he hopes people will remember his brother's care for others. "Whether he knew them or he didn't know them ... He just absolutely loved everybody." A second victim has been confirmed as Lorne Borgal, one of Amir's colleagues and the former CEO of the Hudson Bay Mountain Resort in Smithers. "If you knew Lorne, you knew he was real. His integrity is uncanny and he is respected and loved by so many," said Chrissy Chapman, who worked at Hudson Bay Mountain with Borgal. "We're all going to feel that loss." Borgal and Amir Segdhi grew up together as neighbours, says Ammar, and it was Borgal who gave Amir a job at Precision Vectors. "They loved each other. They loved working together," he said. Segdhi says the families are waiting for the bodies to be transferred to Vancouver from Smithers. On contract for the B.C. Wildfire Service Ammar Sedghi says his brother and Lorne worked for a company called Precision Vectors, which provides detailed aerial imagery. The plane went down, he says, during an imagery-gathering flight for the B.C. Wildfire Service. A stock photo of a Cessna 182, the same type of plane that crashed in B.C. after taking off from Calgary on Thursday. (Shutterstock) Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, says the crew was conducting infrared scans of some of the 2018 wildfires. Both Donaldson and Kevin Skrepnek, B.C. 's chief fire information officer, have issued statements saying their thoughts and sympathies go to the families and friends of those involved. RCMP Sgt. Darren Durnin said the crash site was located by helicopter search crews in Babine River Corridor Provincial Park and a conscious male passenger was seen outside the plane, but the landscape made it impossible to get him out. Durnin said in a statement that a rescue technician was lowered at another location and walked to the site where it was discovered a pilot and two passengers had died. The survivor was rescued by helicopter using a long line, then transported to medical care, and police say he is in stable condition. The statement said the bodies of the three men who didn't survive have been recovered, and both the B.C. Coroners Service and Transportation Safety Board are investigating.<doc-sep>Three people are dead and another injured after a small plane crashed near Smithers Landing, B.C., on Saturday. Smithers RCMP say it receive a report of a plane in distress at around 8:45 a.m. Soon after, the Cessna 182 went down in a remote and forested location northwest of Fort Babine in the Babine River Corridor Provincial Park. A team of helicopters dispatched from Smithers spotted a conscious male passenger near the crash site, but due to the rugged terrain were unable to land. Instead, a team of rescue personnel were dropped to the ground near the crash site and made their way to the injured man who was then taken out by helicopter long line. The man is now in stable condition in hospital. Rescuers were able to zero in on the crash location using a tracking device on the plane. Smithers RCMP, Emergency Management B.C., Joint Rescue Coordination Center, Bulkley Valley Search and Rescue, the Provincial Ministry of Forests and Lands and Rural Development, which included the BC Wildfire Service, all lent a hand in the rescue operation.<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email A plane crash near Smithers, B.C. Saturday killed three people, the BC Coroners Service confirmed Sunday. Spokesperson Andy Watson said the three victims were the pilot and two passengers, while a third passenger was airlifted to hospital. Four contractors who were conducting infrared scans of some of last year’s wildfires for the BC Wildfire Service were on board the plane, according to the Ministry of Forests. Global News has learned the identities of two of the three victims. Lorne Borgal, a Vancouver man in his 60s, was the CEO and founder of Precision Vectors, a company that specializes in aerial mapping. Borgal had served as president and CEO of Whistler Mountain. Story continues below advertisement The other victim, 26-year-old Amir Sedghi, provided data analysis for Precision Vectors. Another person was killed while a fourth person was airlifted to a hospital in Vancouver and is expected to recover, according to the ministry. The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) confirmed earlier Sunday that four people were aboard the Cessna 182 aircraft, which went down roughly 100 km northeast of the town in the Smithers Landing area. The small plane is capable of carrying up to four passengers, the TSB confirmed. RCMP said they were still gathering information and would be providing more details into the crash Sunday. WATCH: (Aired May 1) Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 1:36 Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 Private search planned for plane that disappeared in 2017 – May 1, 2019 TSB investigators are determining the cause of the crash and where the plane was heading to. It’s not known where the flight originated or what the purpose of the trip was. Story continues below advertisement Transport Canada is also investigating the incident. The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said they received an emergency notification from the plane’s transmitter at around 8:45 a.m. Saturday. Crews were dispatched by plane and helicopter to locate the crash site, and began to arrive around noon. Rescue workers entered the site in the afternoon, but would not provide details about what they found before turning the scene over to RCMP.