1,200 attend funerals for Waskada plane crash victims

The village of Waskada, Man., went from 200 people to 1,200 on Monday as funerals were held for a father and three young boys killed in a plane crash.

Darren Spence, 37, his two sons, Logan, 9, and Gage, 10, and their friend Dawson Pentecost, 9, were killed in the crash on Feb. 10. The six-seat Cessna piloted by Spence crashed in a farm field near Waskada, shortly after takeoff.

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Waskada Mayor Gary Williams said a construction warehouse used for the funeral service was decorated with a banner made by local school children and gold-framed pictures of the boys' hockey jerseys.

All three boys were teammates on the Pierson/Waskada Canucks atom hockey team.

Many of the people in attendance at the funeral were from neighbouring towns around Waskada, although some mourners came from as far away as Alberta.

Willams said the support from across Canada has helped the community deal with the tragedy.

"It's been an uplifting process, I mean, to watch people reach out to someone that they know is having a tough time," he said.

A special fund has been set up to help send children in the community to hockey camp.