Seaplane crashed into a mountainside in the Bergeronnes area of Quebec, Sunday, British family killed.
- British family killed was identified as Fiona Hewitt, 52, her husband Richard, 50, and children 14-year-old Harry and 17- year-old Felicity died in the crash, the Quebec Coroner’s Office said.
- The British family were on a special holiday when they died, a relative said.
The British family killed were on a sightseeing flight over the region’s fjords when the De Havilland Beaver aircraft came down in woodland in Les Bergeronnes. The area is popular with tourists keen to catch a glimpse of migratory humpback and blue whales that swim up the St Lawrence River.
According to report, the Canadian pilot, Romain Desrosiers, and a French passenger, Emilie Delaitre, 28, from Mandelieu-la Napoule on the French Riviera, were named earlier this week as having died in the accident.
The Canadian forest is so remote that the site of the crash was only spotted by Canadian army parachutists who were called into the search. All of the bodies of the six victims have been retrieved.
The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, offered his condolences to the family. He said: “This terrible incident has taken the lives of all on board, including four British nationals. My thoughts and sympathy are with their family and friends at this difficult time.”
“Our High Commission in Ottawa is in close contact with the Canadian authorities and we are providing consular assistance to the relatives of those who were killed,” he added.
Regional manager Jean-Marc Ledoux said it would take time to assess the cause of the crash. “We’re taking the time to conduct a thorough investigation, and because it was a smaller plane there was no flight data record, which will obviously make matters more difficult, there will always be different factors that contribute to these incidents. It is always hard to say how long these investigations will take,” he said.IMAGE/REUTERS
