Six dead in commuter plane crash in Canada’s far north

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OTTAWA — Six people died when a small commuter plane carrying workers to a mine in Canada’s far north crashed Tuesday shortly after taking off, a source said.

One person survived, according to this aviation source with knowledge of the crash probe, who asked not to be named as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The survivor’s condition was not released.

The military and federal police responded to the crash in the Northwest Territories. Canadian snowmobile Rangers located the wreckage while search and rescue technicians parachuted from a Hercules aircraft.

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The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario said contact with the plane was lost shortly after it took off at about 8:50 am local time from Fort Smith, 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the regional capital Yellowknife.

The town’s hospital said it activated its mass casualty protocol while the Arctic territory’s chief coroner Garth Eggerberger said “there are fatalities,” without providing more details.

Northwestern Air, which operated the Jetstream twin turboprop airliner, said this was a charter flight carrying workers to a mine. It crashed 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) from the end of the runway.

All flights from Fort Smith have been grounded until Wednesday.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board deployed a team to investigate the accident.