PEACHLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA — A small plane carrying four people crashed in a heavily wooded area in British Columbia on Monday afternoon, killing one and critically injuring three others, police said on Tuesday. It took rescue workers several hours to reach the scene.
The accident happened at around 3 p.m. local time when the Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche crashed near Brenda Mines in the district municipality of Peachland, located on the west side of Okanagan Lake in the southern interior of British Columbia. The plane was carrying a total of four people.
“A man and a woman were airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital and a second woman was airlifted to Kamloops Royal Inland Hospital last night from the crash site,” said Const. Kris Clark of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). “All three sustained life-threatening injuries and remain in critical condition. Efforts continue to notify their family members.”
Clark earlier confirmed that the fourth person was killed in the crash, which took place in a heavily wooded area and made it difficult for rescue workers to reach the scene. “Police remain on scene at this time with Transportation Safety Board investigators and the BC Coroner Service is expected to attend later today,” she added.
Authorities said the small aircraft was flying from Penticton Regional Airport in Penticton to Boundary Bay Airport in Delta but had veered off course. The cause of the accident was not immediately known, but investigators said they hope the survivors will be able to say why the aircraft went off course and what caused it to crash.
Monday’s accident happened exactly three months after a single-engine de Havilland Beaver float plane crashed in the same area near the Brenda Mines, killing all three people on board.
