NORTH SPIRIT LAKE, Ont. - Residents of a northern Ontario reserve where a plane crashed into a lake Tuesday frantically tried to douse the flaming wreckage with snow but couldn't save four of the people trapped inside.
Darcy Keesick of the North Spirit Lake First Nation was one of the people who rushed to the crash. He said it happened during a blinding snowstorm.
"You couldn't see across the lake," he said.
As word spread about what happened, Keesick was one of many who fought through deep snow on foot to get to the scene to help. People tried to put the flames out with snow while others gouged a hole in the lake to try to pump water onto the burning plane, he said.
"It wouldn't go out," he said. "They couldn't do it anymore because the snow was starting to get saturated with fuel."
One person survived and was being treated on the reserve.
The crash shook the small community of about 400 people around 400 kilometres north of Dryden, Ont. Band councillor Maggie Kakegamic said the Keystone Air Service plane, flying in from Winnipeg, was carrying five people, including a band worker based in the Manitoba capital.
Another band worker, Martha Campbell, was among the dead, said Kakegamic.
Nishnawsbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy offered his condolences in a release.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the pilot, passengers and all the members of North Spirit Lake First Nation who are dealing with this sudden and very terrible tragedy.
"While we are not yet aware of the … details surrounding this tragic event, it is yet another unfortunate reminder of the perils faced by many First Nations and other travelers who depend on air transportation as their lifeline between northern and remote communities and major urban centres.”
People in the area heard the plane circling and then a "putt-putt" sound before the crash, she said. Residents have never experienced such a tragedy before, she added.
"Everybody is in shock right now," Kakegamic said from the band officer where the phone was ringing constantly. "Everybody is just running around crying because they know those people."
The lone survivor is a friend of hers, but Kakegamic didn't know the extent of his injuries or his prognosis.
"I went and saw him. He said, 'I'll be OK.' I hope he is. He's one of our workers. They're monitoring him right now."
The Transportation Safety Board said the plane crashed at around 10 a.m. local time. Investigators were on their way, but didn't expect to arrive until Wednesday morning.
Peter Hildebrand, the board's manager of regional operations, said investigators hadn't had a chance to talk to the survivor and weren't sure where he would be sent for further treatment.
It wasn't clear what caused the crash, he said. The plane was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder. It was landing at an airport where there is no control tower and there wasn't any radio contact with the plane after it left Winnipeg.
"We don't know, because of the limitations of communication, whether it was on approach or overshoot at the time, or what it's situation was," Hildebrand said.
George Riopka, spokesman for Keystone Air Service, said details were sketchy other than the plane hit the ice north of the airport. It was too soon to know whether the crash was caused by mechanical failure, he said.
"We don't know what caused it at this point."
Witnesses said the plane was trying to land during a severe snowstorm, but Riopka said there was nothing to indicate the weather was poor.
"The weather was flyable," he said, although he added Keystone only had general weather information for the area which includes North Spirit Lake. "The weather was acceptable according to the reports that the company had."
The airline is providing grief counselling for the victims' families and will wait for the Transportation Safety Board to conclude its investigation, he said.
Condolences poured in from neighbouring reserves. Grand Chief Stan Beardy, head of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation in northern Ontario, said thoughts and prayers were going out to all who were grappling with "this sudden and very terrible tragedy."
"While we are not yet aware of the identity of the victims, or the details surrounding this tragic event, it is yet another unfortunate reminder of the perils faced by many First Nations and other travellers who depend on air transportation as their lifeline between northern and remote communities and major urban centres," he said in a statement.
— By Chinta Puxley and Steve Lambert in Winnipeg, with a file from Jamie Smith in Thunder Bay
