Flight carrying Rio Tinto workers crashes in Canada’s far north, several people feared dead

A small plane carrying workers from the global mining group, Rio Tinto, crashed near Fort Smith, Canada’s remote Northwest Territories, on Tuesday (Jan 23), shortly after take off. The flight was said to be en route to the company’s Diavik diamond mine when it crashed killing some people.

What we know so far

The Australian mining giant released a statement following the news about the crash and said that the flight bound for its Diavik mine was “carrying a number of our people”. However, the details about how many people died or how many had been onboard were not immediately known.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

WATCH |Canada to slash intake of foreign students, announces two-year cap on visas

A report by news agency AFP citing an aviation source said one person survived. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto Chief Executive Jakob Stausholm said that the company was devastated by the crash and that they are working with the authorities to find out what happened.

“We are working closely with authorities and will help in any way we can with their efforts to find out exactly what has happened,” said Stausholm.

Canadian officials, emergency services respond

The Fort Smith Health Centre said it activated its mass casualty protocol at approximately 8:50 am (local time) in response to “an aviation incident near the community".

The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario said contact with the plane was lost shortly after it took off from Fort Smith.

ALSO READ |Explained | Canada's new visa norms and their impact on Indian students

Chief coroner of Northwest Territories Garth Eggenberger, as per Reuters, confirmed there were fatalities. However, he said that officials would not be providing any further information until next of kin are notified.

Meanwhile, search and rescue efforts for the aircraft were being coordinated by three Royal Canadian Air Force squadrons, said Maxime Cliche, a public affairs officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.

The aircraft was found near the Slave River, said Cliche. Northwestern Air, which operated the Jetstream twin turboprop airliner, as per AFP said that the charter flight crashed around 1.1 kilometres away from the end of the runway.

The accident has prompted officials to ground all flights from Fort Smith until Wednesday (Jan 24). Meanwhile, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said they have deployed a team to investigate the accident, involving a BAE Jetstream aircraft.

Three dead, four seriously hurt in helicopter crash

The incident in Fort Smith also came a day after three people were killed and four others suffered serious injuries in the crash of a helicopter carrying a group of recreational skiers in the Canadian province of British Columbia, said the police, on Tuesday (Jan 23).

ALSO READ |Alaska Airlines inspection found loose bolts on 'many' Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes, CEO says

The helicopter, one of three running a heli-skiing operation in the mountainous area, had seven people onboard, said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in a statement. It added that the crash took place in a very remote location only accessible by helicopter.

The chopper went down on Monday (Jan 22) near Terrace, a town of about 12,000 residents, according to tour operator Northern Escape Heli-Skiing.

The tour operator said that they are working with the RCMP and other officials to support the investigation into the cause of the incident and called the accident “rare” but risky.

(With inputs from agencies)