Pilot, Two Passengers Killed, One Survived in Small Plane Crash

A stock photo of a Cessna 182. (Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images)

SMITHERS, B.C.—The British Columbia coroner says it is investigating three fatalities after a small plane crashed northeast of Smithers.

Andy Watson, the spokesman for the BC Coroners Service, says in a statement that the service is investigating the death of the pilot and two passengers after the Cessna 182 went down on Saturday, May 4.

He says a fourth person who was on the plane survived the crash and was taken to a Vancouver hospital.

Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Sophie Wistaff says a team of investigators is at the site and will be gathering information and evidence looking into what may have caused the crash.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said it received a transmission from the plane’s emergency locator Saturday morning, prompting a search about 62 miles (100 km) northeast of Smithers.

When the site was found, a rescue technician was lowered by cable from a helicopter to check for survivors and the operation was turned over to police.

The next day, fire rescue officials say a kayaker pulled a pilot to shore after the pilot’s small plane crashed into a north Florida river.

“He (the kayaker) told the pilot to hold onto the back of his kayak and brought him to safety,” Action News Jax reported.

The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department says the single-propeller, amphibious airplane crashed into the St. Johns River in Jacksonville on Sunday, May 5.

The agency tweeted that the pilot wasn’t injured. The pilot was the only person on board.

The small plane crash comes just two days after a chartered jet carrying 143 people landed in the St. Johns River after arriving at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and skidding off the runway.

There were no serious injuries in that accident involving a jet that was flying from a military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.