Police have confirmed that the two people onboard a plane that went down near Squamish on May 24 both died in the crash.
RCMP Sgt. James Gilmour, Pemberton operations commander with the RCMP, told The Squamish Chief on Saturday that the families of the deceased had been notified and the bodies have been recovered and extracted from the site.
Insp. Robert Dykstra, officer in charge of the Sea to Sky RCMP said earlier that day that Squamish RCMP were alerted by a crash notification near 6 p.m. on Friday, May 24.
“Yesterday at approximately 5:47 pm, the S2S RCMP Squamish detachment received a smart phone automatic crash notification registered to a resident of the Sea to Sky,” said Dykstra, on Saturday.
“In following up, geolocation of the phone indicated a remote location between Ellesmere Creek and Potlatch Creek across the inlet from Furry Creek. This area was not immediately accessible by emergency services due to weather conditions and terrain requiring access only by helicopter.”
Dykstra said the initial investigation indicates the notification came from the pilot of a small plane, which was carrying two people in total.
The RCMP is working with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the BC Coroners Service to determine the cause of this incident, according to a May 26th news release from the Mounties.
The TSB is a federal independent agency that investigates serious incidents that occur with the air, marine, pipeline and rail modes of transportation. The resulting reports can take months or years to be completed and released to the public.
"The RCMP would like to thank Squamish Search and Rescue, Blackcomb Helicopters and several members of the public who were integral in locating and accessing the site of the crash," reads the RCMP's May 26 release.
*Please note that this story has been updated as the situation developed.
