The president and CEO of First Air said the crash of one of the airline's planes that killed 12 people in Resolute Bay, Nunavut is "a tremendous tragedy for us all," as investigators continue to search for a cause.
Scott Bateman confirmed Sunday that the plane's captain, first officer and two flight attendants died when the Boeing 737 crashed into a hill while trying to land on a Resolute Bay runway at about 12:50 p.m. local time on Saturday.
Bateman said support workers are in Yellowknife, which was home to the first officer and two flight attendants, and in Edmonton, where the captain lived, to counsel family members.
"We are doing everything possible within our means to support our staff and the communities that we serve," Bateman told reporters in Yellowknife.
Bateman went on: "This accident is a tremendous tragedy for us all. From Yellowknife to Resolute Bay and throughout the entire north, First Air has and continues to be an integral part of the Canadian Arctic. We supply vital services to the communities, and our First Air family extends across the entire Canadian north. We're well aware that this tragic event touches the entire region and we all grieve together at this difficult time."
Earlier Saturday, First Air's president of marketing and sales Chris Ferris said field teams, including counsellors, have been deployed to provide support in Resolute, Yellowknife and other main stations in the airline's network.
"We are deeply saddened by this tragedy and offer our sincere condolences to the families," Ferris said, his voice breaking.
The names of the 12 victims who died in the crash will not be released yet, Ferris said, before wrapping up the Sunday morning press conference without taking any questions.
Both Bateman and Ferris said little is known about what might have caused the plane to crash.
According to the airline, 11 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft when it went down. The last communication from the plane was at 12:40 p.m. local time, when the aircraft was about eight kilometres from the Resolute Bay airport.
Two of three people who survived the crash have been sent to a hospital in Ottawa for treatment.
Bernie Schmidt, executive director of Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit, said a seven-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man were transported by aircraft to Ottawa General Hospital early Sunday morning.
Schmidt told reporters that the child remains in stable condition, while the man's condition has been downgraded to stable but serious.
A 23-year-old woman remains in stable condition at Qikiqtani hospital.
Schmidt said that shortly after the crash he called a code orange at the hospital, which mobilized staff to the crash site. They gathered information on the survivors and began preparing the hospital for their arrival.
"I'm extremely proud of the staff here at Qikiqtani General Hospital and how they responded to this incident," he said.
Schmidt said crisis response personnel will arrive in Resolute Bay on Sunday to help individuals and communities cope with the tragedy, while social services workers will be on standby should residents require further mental health services.
The man who chartered the jetliner said he's struggling to understand how a routine part of his hotel business morphed into a deadly tragedy in Canada's high arctic.
Local hotel owner Aziz Kheraj was among many who lost friends and family in the crash.
Chartering passenger planes to run food and passengers from Yellowknife was an ordinary part of his business, he told The Canadian Press. Kheraq said he never anticipated the disastrous aftermath of Saturday's routine flight.
"We lost quite a few people on that plane, so it's pretty tough," Kheraj said. "We lost six staff."
Kheraj had two granddaughters on the plane. One was among the dead. The other is the child who was flown to Ottawa General Hospital.
While officials have not released the identities of the deceased, relatives and neighbours have offered the names of some of those who perished in the crash.
Among the victims was Martin Bergmann, the director of Canada's Polar Continental Shelf Project in Resolute. Bergmann was a well-known advocate for northern research.
Another man who was killed, Ches Tibbo, had survived a plane crash in the Arctic in 2008. A next-door neighbour said Tibbo, of Harbour Mille, N.L., had been afraid to fly ever since.
Quick response
Daniel Blouin, a communications officer with Canada's Department of National Defence, said it was a lucky coincidence that about 500 soldiers were in the area at the time of the crash.
"It's always a shock when we're preparing for a training exercise for a simulated air disaster and the training exercise ends up not being an exercise," he told CTV News Channel on Sunday.
Blouin said the Forces were stationed close enough to the crash to deploy firefighters, two helicopters and search-and-rescue teams immediately.
"There's nothing fortunate about what happened yesterday," said Blouin. "But just for the fact that the Canadian Forces were able to be here…it's a somber satisfaction in light of some tragic events."
Investigators with the Canada's Transportation Safety Board arrived at the site soon after the plane went down. Agency investigators were already in Resolute Bay to participate in the military exercises scheduled for next week.
TSB's investigation includes documenting and surveying the site, gathering data about the aircraft, operator, crew and passengers, identifying aircraft parts and gathering meteorological condition data.
A press conference with TSB officials is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday.
Boeing, the aircraft's manufacturer, will join the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to provide technical assistance during the investigation.
A weather report for travellers on First Air's website reported "shallow fog" with a temperature of 7 Celsius around the time of the crash.
The RCMP said late Saturday that they had recovered two black boxes from the crash site, and that they were sending six forensic identification officers to Resolute. Four of those officers will identify the deceased, the release said, while the remaining two will be dedicated to the accident investigation.
Health minister knew victims
The crash occurred in Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's riding, and on Sunday she confirmed a personal connection to the tragedy but would not elaborate.
She said she knew some of those on board the plane, and said she will travel to the area this week to offer support to the tight-knit community.
"It's a very tragic day, a very sad day for many people in Nunavut," Aglukkaq said. "I want to offer my condolences to the people affected. This tragedy really affects everyone in the north. The territory is large but in terms of population everybody knows everybody."
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was scheduled to travel to Resolute Bay to observe the military exercises on Monday, will now travel to the north on Tuesday. He was scheduled to spend two nights in Resolute Bay, but those plans have changed.
Instead, the prime minister will make a brief stop in the tiny community before travelling to Baker Lake, Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Haines Junction.
"Our thoughts and prayers remain with those affected by Saturday's tragic plane crash," Harper said Sunday in a news release.
"Thanks to the herculean efforts of first responders, including members of the Canadian Armed Forces, lives were saved that otherwise might have been lost."
Gov.-Gen. David Johnston, who is travelling in Nunavut and visited military personnel in Resolute Bay earlier Saturday, said he observed Canadian Forces members as they responded to the crash.
No one from Johnston's delegation was involved in the crash. The governor general's official events originally scheduled for Sunday were cancelled.
Nunavut Premier Eva Aariak said the airline industry is "so very vital" to residents of the far north. With 25 communities scattered through the territory, the people of Nunavut rely on the airlines that charter flights to remote outposts, she said.
"We rely on the airlines for visiting friends, as well as going to medical services in other communities, as well as going all the way down to southern hospitals," Aariak told CTV News Channel on Sunday night. "Airlines are also vital for providing food coming in from the south. It is an integral service that we use up here in the territories."
With files from The Canadian Press
