A search for a missing plane between Hope and Merritt B.C. is difficult due to the mountainous area and the low-lying clouds. Photo Credit: JRCC.
A small plane with two people on board that was bound for Nanaimo and went missing Thursday morning has been found with no survivors.
FINAL #SAR UPDATE#JRCC Victoria confirms it has found the missing Cessna 182 Aircraft and the 2 people on board. Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the two individuals. Please click the link for more: https://t.co/FfXU7fkt6i pic.twitter.com/kx1UF2SNbw
— Victoria JRCC CCCOS (@VicJRCC_CCCOS) June 29, 2018
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) in Victoria reported the active search on Twitter around 10:30 p.m Thursday for the Cessna 182 that left Calgary Springbank Airport at 10 a.m.
The search covered an area from Merritt to Hope.
JRCC Victoria says it was first alerted about an hour after the plane left Calgary by an electronic locator transmitter that had been activated about 166 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
“We’ve been trying to get into the area where the beacon was detected ever since then but the weather’s been such that the helicopter and the Buffalo have not been able to actually put eyes on the search area,” Maj. Justin Olsen, the officer in charge at the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, said on Friday.
Olsen said elevation in the area, between 4,000 and 6,000 feet (1,219 metres to 1,829 metres) complicated the search.
“It’s not been safe for crews to try to penetrate that cloud because there’s such high peaks in the area.”
The plane was en route to Kelowna, Hope and Boundary Bay, with a planned stop in Nanaimo.
Low clouds and rain disrupted the search efforts of a Buffalo aircraft and a Cormorant Helicopter from CFB Comox on Thursday.
RCMP and Hope Search and Rescue assisted in the effort to find the plane.
Andy Neal
