Both pilots were found dead at the scene and no passengers were aboard either plane, RCMP Cpl. Melanie Roussel said during a July 8 news conference. She declined to provide any information about either of the victims, saying it was still early in the investigation.
The consulate general of India has identified one of the pilots as Sreehari Sukesh, who was described as a “young Indian student pilot.”
The double fatality is currently under investigation by the RCMP, Roussel said.
“It’s a two plane collision, which is not something that happens every day,” she noted, adding that it is still too early to tell if any charges will be laid.
She said the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSBC) had been notified and has launched its own investigation into what caused the crash.
TSBC spokesperson Hugo Fontaine told The Epoch Times in an email that investigators concluded their work at the scene on July 8 and were moving on to the next phase of the investigation.
The pilots were conducting local training flights and collided on a final approach to the runway. Fontaine said the planes hit the ground after they collided, resulting in a fire.
The transportation agency is now gathering information and assessing the accident, Fontaine said, but did not give a timeline for when its findings might be released.
TSBC recently released a report about a previous plane crash that killed a flight instructor and two students near Chilliwack, B.C., in 2023.
The report concludes the plane, a Piper PA-34-200 Seneca, was not going fast enough and ended up rolling to the right and crashing into trees behind a casino.
The TSBC report said planes roll when there is uneven power between its two engines, causing the aircraft speed to drop below the minimum required speed.
No issues were found with the flight controls that could have resulted in a loss of control, the report said. It also noted there were no mechanical issues identified that would have prevented the engine from producing power.
