Four killed in helicopter crash

VICTORIA—A small helicopter carrying people on a mineral exploration flight crashed into a fast-flowing, icy northern B.C. river yesterday, killing all four people on board.
The Hughes aircraft belonging to Prism Helicopters of Pitt Meadows, near Vancouver, was flying out of a camp at Alice Arm, about 150 km northeast of Prince Rupert, when it went down.
A rescue team parachuted into the crash site, at the top of a fiord bordered by steep mountains, but found the mangled aircraft upside down in the Kitsault River.
It was a struggle to remove two of the victims’ bodies from the wreckage.
“It’s not how we would have liked it to end,” said Second-Lt. Jill Strelieff of the Victoria Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
“Whenever we have a situation like this, we always hope for the best outcome and unfortunately in this situation we didn’t have any survivors.”
Strelieff said it was a dangerous mission for search-and-rescue technicians.
“It’s very difficult terrain, so it makes things a little bit riskier,” Strelieff noted. “The helicopter was left inverted in the river and Kitsault is known as being a very fast-moving river, which increases the difficulties when you’re trying to get into that.”
Prism president Dave Zall said in an interview the pilot, whose name has not been released, was “very experienced, a very good pilot, one of the best in the industry.”
“It’s tough on everybody, a sad day for this company and our hearts go out to the families [of the other victims],” said Zall, who knew the pilot well.
“It’s tough to deal with. We’re doing the best we can under the circumstances.”
Zall said he had no detailed information on the circumstances of the 7 a.m. crash but understood weather was clear. He did not say who had chartered the helicopter.
Prism, founded in 1985, operates a fleet of 26 helicopters from the small, teardrop-shaped MD500 to larger transport and cargo choppers.
The company, with bases in northern B.C., Vancouver Island, and Alaska, mainly is chartered by logging, mining, and construction firms.
Federal Transport minister Lawrence Cannon issued a statement of condolence and a promise to ensure Prism complies with set safety requirements.
It was the second fatal crash of an aircraft in British Columbia in less than a week.
On Sunday, a 64-year-old amphibious plane slammed into a mountainside and exploded near Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, killing five of the seven people on board.
The dead included four employees of Seaspan International Ltd. of Vancouver, who were en route to load a log barge on the island’s northwest coast.
The owner of the aircraft, Pacific Coast Airlines, held a memorial service on Tuesday, in which four Grumman Goose seaplanes flew over the company’s hanger in Port Hardy.
An ultralight aircraft with one aboard also crashed in B.C. on Monday, but the wreckage has not been recovered.