RED LAKE, Ont. — The mayor of this small northwestern Ontario town says residents are having an “extremely tough go” after a plane crash killed five people on Sunday night.
“Whether we are blood relatives or not, we are all connected,” Mayor Phil Vinet said Tuesday morning. “This is a very significant event in Red Lake’s history.”
Officials are expected to release more details Tuesday on the fiery plane crash that killed three Red Lake residents as well as the two pilots, who lived in Winnipeg. There were two survivors, both Winnipeggers.
The Transportation Safety Board dispatched investigators Monday to the scene of the crash in the remote town of about 4,500 people not far from the Manitoba border and about 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.
The Bearskin Airlines plane went down just after 6:30 p.m. local time Sunday on approach to the Red Lake airport.
Police say the twin-engine turboprop burst into flames when it hit the ground, and only two people survived – one of whom pulled the other to safety.
The two pilots — a 25-year-old and a 34-year-old from Winnipeg — were among those killed.
Global News has identified them as Peter Traczuk, a Winnipeg father of three, and Aniruddh Sawant, who has been identified as being from Mississauga, Ont., but who was living in Winnipeg, according to his Facebook page.
Sawant’s brother tweeted about his death on Monday:
The three passengers who died in the crash were all from Red Lake, local residents said.
The survivors were identified as a 29-year-old man and a 50-year-old woman, both from Winnipeg.
The two were taken by ambulance to hospital where police said they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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