Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Prince George RCMP have confirmed that a person has died after a plane made an emergency landing Thursday on Foothills Boulevard, about 1.5 kilometres north of North Nechako Road.
RCMP said two motor vehicles were involved.
“Police are saddened to confirm that there has been one fatality in this incident, an occupant of one of the vehicles,” reads a statement from RCMP.
“Any potential injuries to the other vehicle occupants as well as those on board the plane are currently unknown.”
In the statement, officers urged the public to stay away from the area.
Foothills Boulevard has been closed to vehicle traffic in both directions and will remain that way overnight and into Friday.
The Transportation Safety Board will be taking over the investigation, police said.
Emergency crews were called to an area of northern Prince George where a small aircraft made an apparent emergency landing on a busy road.
Prince George RCMP said the incident happened around 2:30 p.m. PT on Foothills Boulevard near Highland Drive.
B.C. Emergency Health Services said it received a call around that time.
“Two ambulances with primary care paramedics, two link and referral units, a paramedic supervisor, and an area manager responded to the scene,” said BCEHS paramedic public information officer Brian Twaites.
“Paramedics assessed a total of 10 patients, including two patients who were transported to hospital in stable condition.”
Mohit Arora had just turned onto Foothills Boulevard when the plane came down.
“Within a millisecond the plane comes on the road, and the left wing of the plane got struck with a pickup truck, that person got hit with the wing of the plane,” he said.
He said the driver of the truck was injured, but survived.
He said the aircraft’s propeller nearly struck his own vehicle.
“It was just stopped like 10 feet ahead from my car. I am so lucky that the fan and the blades did not hit my car,” he said.
“It’s trauma, like, for me, it was a very bad experience.
“We are currently still triaging the scene with other first responders from the area,” said RCMP Cpl. Jennifer Cooper.
“We do know that two cars were also involved in this dynamic situation. It would have been impossible for drivers to necessarily predict and make emergency manoeuvres from this.”
In a brief statement, Prince George Fire Rescue said it was responding to a “serious motor vehicle incident involving a plane.”
The Transportation Safety Board said the incident involved a Beech King Air 200 aircraft, and that it was deploying a team to Prince George to investigate.
Images captured by Arora show a small passenger aircraft on the side of the road, with one of its propellers broken off and lying in the middle of the roadway.
A yellow car can be seen crashed on the side of the road, and a pickup truck with what appears to be debris from the aircraft smashed through the front windshield.
The aircraft appears to have suffered significant damage to at least one of its wings.
People are being urged to avoid the area and police say the road will be closed for “a considerable amount of time.”
