Seven dead in Canada small plane crash: officials
The crash occurred as the aircraft was approaching for landing in fog and gusts of wind.
MONTREAL (AFP) - A small private jet crashed on Canada s Magdalen Islands off its Atlantic coast on Tuesday killing all seven people on board, most of them reportedly en route to a family funeral, officials said.
The crash occurred as the Mitsubishi turbo-prop aircraft carrying seven passengers and crew -- reportedly including a local broadcast journalist and former member of parliament -- was approaching for landing in fog and gusts of wind, local ambulance chief Benoit Leblanc told AFP.
Television images showed the aircraft flattened in a snowy field, on the picturesque archipelago, which is part of Quebec and lies north of Prince Edward Island.
Leblanc said one person had survived the crash impact and was taken to hospital in critical condition. But Quebec provincial police later said on Twitter that all seven people aboard the plane had died.
According to the daily Journal de Quebec, the deceased included former transportation minister-turned-political pundit Jean Lapierre, who was reportedly headed to the island with his family for his father s funeral.
His father died last week at age 83 after a battle with Parkinsons.
The Journal de Quebec is owned by the Quebecor media group, which also employed Lapierre.
Broadcaster TVA, meanwhile, said Lapierre, his wife, his two brothers, his sister and the two pilots died in the plane crash.
A Canadian transportation safety board team is headed to the crash site to investigate the cause of the accident.
