Plane crash kills one, injures three, not far from scene of similar crash in May
August 14, 2012 - 12:00 PM
PEACHLAND, B.C. - It has been touch-and-go through the night for at least one of the survivors of a plane crash in the Okanagan region, west of Kelowna, B.C.
Officials say all three suffered critical injuries when their twin-engine Piper Comanche went down Monday afternoon in a remote area on the west side of Okanagan Lake, not far from the community of Peachland.
One person died at the scene while a man and woman are being treated in Kelowna and a second woman was flown to hospital in Kamloops.
Names of the victims have not been released, but the Rescue Co-Ordination Centre confirmed the private plane had taken off from Penticton, heading to a small airport just south of Vancouver.
A passing commercial airliner spotted the crash and alerted rescuers, but a spokeswoman for the B.C. Ambulance Service says crews had difficulty pinpointing and reaching the site, near the old Brenda Mine, off Highway 97C.
The crash occurred in the same area where a de Havilland Beaver crashed in a ball of flame in May, killing all three aboard and, at the time, witnesses said that aircraft appeared to be trying to gain altitude but could not climb quickly enough to avoid the steep terrain.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2012