The Transportation Safety Board of sa国际传媒 is working with the sa国际传媒 Coroners Service to determine what caused a Campbell River-based helicopter to crash near Bute Inlet on Saturday.
A 48-year-old American man died in the crash and another is in Victoria General Hospital, the RCMP said in a statement.
Other survivors include: the 68-year-old Gold River-based pilot; another Gold River man, age 44; a second American man; and an American woman, 63.
The aircraft, owned by E&B Helicopters, was ferrying the fishing enthusiasts to spots along the Homathko River, which runs between Mount Waddington glacier and Bute Inlet, said Bill Yearwood, manager of air investigations with the Transportation Safety Board.
The charter operator was alerted to a problem late Saturday afternoon when the helicopter鈥檚 spot- tracker machine stopped working, said Capt. Ray Jacobson of the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria. The machine tracks the helicopter鈥檚 movement.
鈥淭hey themselves sent their own machines and spotted their helicopter crashed on the river,鈥� Jacobson said.
The five survivors were picked up and taken back to Campbell River. The sixth passenger was deceased and located in the submerged wreckage.
Joint Rescue received the report at 7:20 p.m. and deployed a Royal Canadian Air Force Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopter from Comox at 10:30 p.m, Jacobson said.
The Cormorant had been responding to a report of an all-terrain-vehicle accident near Khartoum Lake, in the Powell River area, when the call came in, causing a delay, Jacobson said.
Rescue crews retrieved the body on Sunday.
Yearwood said the model of helicopter involved in the crash is known to be reliable. No names have been released.
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