B.C. plane crashed and burned: survivor

A fire broke out aboard a plane after it crashed Sunday on northern Vancouver Island. The pilot and four of six passengers were killed, a survivor said Monday.

Bob Pomponio was one of the passengers who survived the crash of the chartered Pacific Coastal Airlines' Grumman Goose amphibious aircraft , which went down shortly after taking off from Port Hardy, B.C., at about 7 a.m. PT Sunday.

His brother-in-law, Martin Young,  told reporters Monday that Pomponio suffered soft-tissue injuries in the crash.

Police said they believe the plane's engine may be at fault in the crash.

"The plane is believed to have gone down due to a stall," said Const. Sarah Beckett of the Port McNeill RCMP.

"We can't confirm that at this time or confirm what caused the stall."

Transportation Safety Board spokesman Bill Yearwood confirmed the plane had burned.

"There was a post-crash fire," Yearwood said. "After it collided with the trees, there was a fire — a small fire that erupted into a larger one."

It had been reported earlier that the fire had preceded the crash.

The plane's electronic locator transmitter was not working. Pomponio and the other survivor, who remains unnamed, were rescued hours after search teams received text messages Pomponio sent to a friend with the whereabouts of the crash site.

The friend relayed the information to rescue crews, but it took several hours for them to find the site of the crash, a hillside dense with foliage. Pomponio said he had to climb a hill to get a signal.

He added he wasn't thrilled with his wireless provider, Telus, for sending him two promotional text messages while he was trying to get help.

Beckett said the survivors were able to get out before a major explosion and a few minor explosions occurred.

Seaspan International released a statement Monday confirming that four of its employees died in the crash.

"We offer our deepest sympathies to the families and will be working directly with them and the two Seaspan survivors to provide grief and trauma counselling," it read.

The Seaspan employees were travelling to Chamiss to load logs on to barges for transport.

"This is the worst tragedy in the history of the company," Seaspan CEO Steve Frasher told the Victoria Times-Colonist on Monday. He said the community of log-loaders is "like a brotherhood," and his employees are struggling with the "devastating" news.

Frasher said RCMP notified the victims' and survivors' families at 1:30 a.m.

Officials have not released the names of any of the deceased.

Little left of wreckage

Mike Aldersey, a pilot with West Coast Helicopters who flew over the site of the crash on Monday, told CBC News it was amazing anyone survived.

Aldersey said most of the plane and the huge trees around it burned, leaving only a part of the plane's tail visible.

Aldersey said he dropped log-fallers and their tools about an hour's hike from the site. They will clear an area near the site and construct a helicopter landing pad so investigators from the Transportation Safety Board can get to the area to begin their work.

Lt.-Cmdr. Gerry Pash of the Victoria Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre said the survivor's cellphone could be credited for bringing the rescue crews to the crash location.

"It was less efficient than having the plane's electronic transmission locator working but more efficient than not having any information," he said.

"This is one of those searches that could have gone on for days had we not had the cellphone's stuff."