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1 dead, 7 injured in north Manitoba plane crash
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At least one person has died and seven people are injured after a plane crashed in northern Manitoba on Sunday morning.
It happened at about 10 a.m. local time near the Town of Snow Lake, which is located about 700 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
RCMP have identified the person who died as a 40-year-old resident of Snow Lake. He had been piloting the commercial aircraft.
The seven injured passengers were all adult males. Eight people had been aboard the plane when it crashed.
The Safety and Training Coordinator for Dumas Mine Contracting, Richard Lanchier, had confirmed earlier Sunday that some of his employees were on the plane.
The RCMP said a call came in from a passenger on the aircraft, saying that the plane had crashed.
Emergency crews reached the scene about noon and found the plane in a bush area about 10 kilometres from the Snow Lake airport.
The plane left Snow Lake Airport this morning, it is unclear where it was heading at this point.
Chris Crepski, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), has confirmed the aircraft was a Cessna 208, also known as a Caravan, operated by Gogal Air Service.
Investigators from the TSB are on their way to the crash site.
The survivors have serious injuries and rescuers are working to get them to hospital, the RCMP said. However, the remoteness of the crash along with bad weather are hampering rescue efforts.
RCMP spokesperson Line Karpish said rescuers have had trouble getting to the site.
"The plane basically crashed in a highly bushed area north of the airport," said Karpish. "Getting to the crash site has required that it be done by snowmobile."
It's not known if weather was a factor but Clarence Fisher, the Mayor of Snow Lake, told CBC News that the area was very cloudy Sunday morning.
"There are rescue personnel on the scene and they are trying to get them to the Snow Lake Hospital, or get them prepared to be medevaced out, if that's what needs to happen," said Fisher. "At this point, we're really unclear."
A Canadian Forces Search and Rescue Hercules plane has been dispatched to help, but the weather is limiting what it can do.
Gogal Air Services is a private aircraft company, which
operates out of Snow Lake.
http://www.cbc.ca
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