A fire broke out aboard a plane after it crashed Sunday on northern Vancouver Island. The pilot and four of six passengers were killed, a survivor said Monday. -
Bob Pomponio was one of the passengers who survived the crash of the chartered Pacific Coastal Airlines' Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft , which went down shortly after taking off from Port Hardy, B.C., at about 7 a.m. PT Sunday.
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His brother-in-law, Martin Young, told reporters Monday that Pomponio suffered soft-tissue injuries in the crash.
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Police said they believe the plane's engine may be at fault in the crash.
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"The plane is believed to have gone down due to a stall," said Const. Sarah Beckett of the Port McNeill RCMP.
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"We can't confirm that at this time or confirm what caused the stall."
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Transportation Safety Board spokesman Bill Yearwood confirmed the plane had burned.
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"There was a post-crash fire," Yearwood said. "After it collided with the trees, there was a fire - a small fire that erupted into a larger one."
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It had been reported earlier that the fire had preceded the crash.
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The plane's electronic transmission locator was not working. Pomponio and the other survivor, who remains unnamed, were rescued hours after search teams received text messages Pomponio sent to a friend with the whereabouts of the crash site.
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The friend relayed the information to rescue crews, but it took several hours for them to find the site of the crash, a hillside dense with foliage. Pomponio said he had to climb a hill to get a signal.
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He added he wasn't thrilled with his wireless provider, Telus, for sending him two promotional text messages while he was trying to get help.
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Beckett said the survivors were able to get out before a major explosion and a few minor explosions occurred.
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Seaspan International released a statement Monday confirming that four of its employees died in the crash.
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"We offer our deepest sympathies to the families and will be working directly with them and the two Seaspan survivors to provide grief and trauma counselling," it read.
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The Seaspan employees were travelling to Chamiss to load logs on to barges for transport.
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"This is the worst tragedy in the history of the company," Seaspan CEO Steve Frasher told the Victoria Times-Colonist on Monday. He said the community of log-loaders is "like a brotherhood," and his employees are struggling with the "devastating" news.
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Frasher said RCMP notified the victims' and survivors' families at 1:30 a.m.
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Officials have not released the names of any of the deceased.
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Mike Aldersey, a pilot with West Coast Helicopters who flew over the site of the crash on Monday, told CBC News it was amazing anyone survived.
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Aldersey said most of the plane and the huge trees around it burned, leaving only a part of the plane's tail visible.
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Aldersey said he dropped log-fallers and their tools about an hour's hike from the site. They will clear an area near the site and construct a helicopter landing pad so investigators from the Transportation Safety Board can get to the area to begin their work.
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Lt.-Cmdr. Gerry Pash of the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the survivor's cellphone could be credited for bringing the rescue crews to the crash location.
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"It was less efficient than having the plane's electronic transmission locator working but more efficient than not having any information," he said.
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"This is one of those searches that could have gone on for days had we not had the cellphone's stuff."