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Two dead, two injured in crash of small plane on Vancouver Island

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Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) signage is pictured outside TSB offices in Ottawa, Monday, May 1, 2023. Mounties on Vancouver Island say two people have been killed in the crash of a small plane northwest of Tofino on Vancouver Island. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

TOFINO, B.C. — A float plane with four people aboard crashed and burned on Vancouver Island Tuesday, killing two and injuring two others. 

A statement from the Transportation Safety Board said the privately registered Quest Kodiak 100 was on its way from Masset on Haida Gwaii to Tofino when it went down. 

The statement said the plane crashed into terrain about 110 kilometres northwest of Tofino, setting off the fire.

RCMP said Wednesday that two people aboard were killed, while the B.C. Ambulance Service confirmed that two others on the plane were injured. 

A spokeswoman for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the centre was alerted to the crash by an emergency locator beacon at 1:42 p.m. on Tuesday and rescue vessels, helicopters and a C130 Hercules military plane responded.

B.C. Emergency Health Services said in a statement that the injured patients were airlifted from the scene by Canadian Armed Forces rescuers and transferred to paramedics in Comox.

Officers from the Nootka Sound detachment nearby responded to the scene by police boat, RCMP said. 

"The RCMP is working alongside the Transportation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service to determine the cause of this incident," police said in a statement issued Wednesday. 

The safety board said it is sending a team of investigators to "gather information and assess the occurrence."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2023. 

The Canadian Press

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