Two killed in crash of Cessna

MONTREAL—Two people have died and two others have been transported to hospital with critical injuries after a small Cessna plane crashed 65 km southeast of Quebec City early today.
Officials from the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at CFB Trenton in eastern Ontario say low cloud cover initially hindered rescue efforts after the plane lost contact with air traffic control just after taking off from Quebec City around 5 a.m.

“The coast guard helicopter was on the scene relatively early,” Capt. Mark Peebles said.
“They were in the vicinity but they couldn’t get into the area due to weather,” he noted. “There was very low cloud cover and they couldn’t get into the scene, so they were released and returned to base [in Quebec City].”
Three other helicopters, including a Griffon from CFB Bagotville, Que., another from Trenton, and a Cormorant from CFB Greenwood, N.S., as well as a C-130 Hercules transport plane from Trenton, alsow were dispatched to the scene, he said.
While they were en route, Peebles said one of the people aboard the Cessna used a cellphone to call 9-1-1 and was able to provide some pertinent information.
The Griffon from Bagotville made it through the cloud cover around 9:15 a.m. and was able to lower a rescue technician to the scene in the town of Notre-Dame-Auxiliatrice-de-Buckland.
“Soon after, the Hercules was able to find a hole in the clouds and got to the crash site and parachute-dropped two more search-and-rescue technicians,” Peebles said.
He said Quebec police were headed to the scene by snowmobile, and that the plan was to evacuate the victims by helicopter to hospital in Quebec City.
Details about the victims and the nature of their injuries were not yet available.
The plane had left Ontario and made a stop in Quebec City to refuel before leaving for Saint John, N.B.