rotornut
20th Aug 2007, 15:06
Plane crash 'hero' saves two friends
Comox rescue team praises man for carrying injured friends to safety
Catherine Rolfsen
CanWest News Service
Monday, August 20, 2007
VANCOUVER -- A 20-year-old man is being hailed as a hero after he carried his friends to safety from the wreckage of a plane crash near Squamish that claimed the pilot's life.
Four friends were on board the Cessna 172 when it crashed Saturday afternoon nose-down in a steep, slippery forest near Meslilloet Creek, between Indian Arm and Squamish, rescuers said.
The flight had left Pitt Meadows without a flight plan, and was overdue to return. The pilot, a 22-year-old man visiting from Iceland, died in the crash.
But his three passengers, a male and female, both 19; and a 20-year-old male, all from the Coquitlam/Port Moody area, were suspended about 1.2 metres from the ground in the airplane, which wound up being hung up in trees.
The two younger passengers were badly injured, so the 20-year-old, who was largely unhurt, sprang into action. He carried the two out of the plane, through dense underbrush and down a slippery embankment to the creek bed. In the four hours it took rescuers to arrive, he bandaged their wounds in the rain.
"He did the whole job," said Sgt. Yves St. Denis, search and rescue technician with the Comox-based Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter crew that rescued the survivors.
"They were in a bad situation where the airplane was. I think he did a very, very good job for someone who had just come out of a plane crash."
It was because of the young man that St. Denis and his colleague, Master Cpl. Bruno Lapointe, combing the area in the helicopter, located the survivors. "He was waving to us."
St. Denis and Lapointe were then lowered from the helicopter to attend to the three. The 19-year-old man suffered a head injury and broken leg and the woman suffered a broken arm and a leg injury. Their names weren't being released yesterday. The three were taken to Vancouver General Hospital. Early yesterday morning, search and rescue workers removed the pilot's body from the wreckage.
Dave Qualley, a search and rescue pilot with Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, an organization of volunteer pilots, navigators and "spotters," helped located the crash site on Saturday. He said it is possible the pilot misidentified a valley and was flying too low to pull up in time. "It was probably just an unfortunate mistake."
The crash is under investigation by the coroner, the Transportation Safety Board and the RCMP.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=cbb64694-cc3e-4739-b455-3f96c9155413&k=28157
Comox rescue team praises man for carrying injured friends to safety
Catherine Rolfsen
CanWest News Service
Monday, August 20, 2007
VANCOUVER -- A 20-year-old man is being hailed as a hero after he carried his friends to safety from the wreckage of a plane crash near Squamish that claimed the pilot's life.
Four friends were on board the Cessna 172 when it crashed Saturday afternoon nose-down in a steep, slippery forest near Meslilloet Creek, between Indian Arm and Squamish, rescuers said.
The flight had left Pitt Meadows without a flight plan, and was overdue to return. The pilot, a 22-year-old man visiting from Iceland, died in the crash.
But his three passengers, a male and female, both 19; and a 20-year-old male, all from the Coquitlam/Port Moody area, were suspended about 1.2 metres from the ground in the airplane, which wound up being hung up in trees.
The two younger passengers were badly injured, so the 20-year-old, who was largely unhurt, sprang into action. He carried the two out of the plane, through dense underbrush and down a slippery embankment to the creek bed. In the four hours it took rescuers to arrive, he bandaged their wounds in the rain.
"He did the whole job," said Sgt. Yves St. Denis, search and rescue technician with the Comox-based Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopter crew that rescued the survivors.
"They were in a bad situation where the airplane was. I think he did a very, very good job for someone who had just come out of a plane crash."
It was because of the young man that St. Denis and his colleague, Master Cpl. Bruno Lapointe, combing the area in the helicopter, located the survivors. "He was waving to us."
St. Denis and Lapointe were then lowered from the helicopter to attend to the three. The 19-year-old man suffered a head injury and broken leg and the woman suffered a broken arm and a leg injury. Their names weren't being released yesterday. The three were taken to Vancouver General Hospital. Early yesterday morning, search and rescue workers removed the pilot's body from the wreckage.
Dave Qualley, a search and rescue pilot with Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, an organization of volunteer pilots, navigators and "spotters," helped located the crash site on Saturday. He said it is possible the pilot misidentified a valley and was flying too low to pull up in time. "It was probably just an unfortunate mistake."
The crash is under investigation by the coroner, the Transportation Safety Board and the RCMP.
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=cbb64694-cc3e-4739-b455-3f96c9155413&k=28157