TORONTO – Five Americans and two Canadians were killed when a lightaircraft crashed in a wooded area on the north shore of Lake Ontario,Canada’s transport safety agency said Thursday.
The US-registered single-engine Piper PA-32 departed Toronto’s ButtonvilleAirport and was apparently headed to Quebec City when it crashed onapproach to the Kingston, Ontario airport on Wednesday just after five pm(2200 GMT), Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigator Ken Webster tolda press conference.
Emergency services, including police on all-terrain vehicles and a militarysearch and rescue helicopter, were dispatched to locate the downed plane,which was found in thick rush.
“Five Americans and two Canadians were aboard,” TSB spokeswoman Nora Valleetold reporters.
Canadian media reported that the pilot was from the state of Texas and theplane was carrying his spouse, three children aged three, 11 and 15 alongwith two Canadians.
The foreign ministry of Uzbekistan identified two of the victims — OtabekOblokulov and Bobomurod Nabiev — as citizens of the ex-Soviet country inCentral Asia.
It said Oblokulov had been piloting the plane and that the other victimsincluded his wife and three children.
Canadian investigators were busy throughout the day “taking pictures of thewreckage, looking at the condition of the engines and the general conditionof the aircraft,” TSB spokesman Alexandre Fournier told AFP.
He added that they would also try to recover the plane’s flight recorderand review radio communications with control towers.