Four passengers and two Northwestern Air Lease crew members were killed in a plane crash near Fort Smith on Tuesday morning, the NWT Coroner Service confirmed Wednesday.
There was one survivor who was taken to the Fort Smith Health Centre and then medevaced to Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife. There was no indication of the survivor’s prognosis in the news release.
An initial report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada says there was a fire after the crash, and the plane was destroyed.
All next of kin notifications have been completed by the RCMP, the NWT Coroner Service stated. The identities of those who perished have not been disclosed publicly.
The flight had departed Fort Smith and was en route to the Diavik diamond mine.
The coroner’s team is in Fort Smith and will be working with local authorities and resources to access the site and “begin the recovery process.”
“The NWT Coroner Service would like to express our condolences to the families and community of Fort Smith during this very tragic and difficult time,” the news release concluded.
—with files from The Canadian Press