RCMP Spokesperson Gord Molendyk
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
July 28, 2014 - 9:55 PM
VERNON - The pilot of a plane that crashed somewhere in the woods off Westside Road has been taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.
Reports of a downed aircraft in the Six Mile Creek area on the west side of Okanagan Lake came in around 6:45 p.m. Monday. Emergency officials, and several nearby residents who heard the plane go down, immediately began searching the dense forest for the aircraft.
Shortly after 8 p.m. police received information that the small single engine, two seater float plane had been located and the lone occupant had walked away from the crash scene, RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. Ambulance personnel rushed him to hospital and the extent of his injuries are not yet known.
Vernon fire captain Colin Clarke was on scene with a crew of firefighters in case they were needed to extricate the pilot from the plane when it was found.
He heard word early on that the pilot had activated an emergency beacon.
“It was just a matter of time before they found him,” Clarke says. “I was more worried about what would be found when the plane was located.”
He says it was both a surprise and a relief when news came the pilot was alive.
A police update is expected Tuesday with further details about the crash and the condition of the pilot.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014