3 dead, 4 in critical condition after heli-skiing crash north of Terrace, B.C.

An injured heli-ski client who survived a crash that killed three was the one who called for help after the aircraft hit the side of a mountain.

Four people in the helicopter were badly injured in the accident, which took place Monday afternoon 30 kilometres north of Terrace, B.C.

In a media conference Tuesday, John Forrest, president of Northern Escape Heli-Skiing, said the client alerted the company of the crash on a radio provided to guests.

“At that time we activated our rescue protocols including ceasing skiing activities and activating search and rescue. Our other two helicopters in the area immediately responded and joined rescue efforts along with our team of guides,” said Forrest.

Forrest said the crash happened near the top of a mountain, typically about 2,000 metres high in the area.

“At the moment it’s unclear what the cause of the incident was,” he said. “We simply don’t know what happened.”

WATCH | Cause of crash remains unclear:

Three people are dead and four others were rushed to hospital in critical condition after a helicopter crash north of Terrace, B.C., on Monday afternoon, Northern Escape Heli-Skiing has confirmed.

CBC has confirmed two of the people who died are tourists from Italy. One is Andreas Widmann, 35, an executive with Italian sportswear manufacturer Texmarket. The other is Heiner (Heinzl) Oberrauch ,29, son of the founder of Sportler, an Italian sporting goods company. 

Both Texmarket and Sportler are headquartered in Bolzano in the South Tyrol region of Italy.

In a social media post, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani expressed his condolences. 

“I join in the pain of the families who lost their loved ones in the terrible helicopter crash in Canada. I have instructed our consulate [in Vancouver] to provide maximum assistance to the injured compatriots. I sincerely wish them a speedy recovery,” he said.

Police have said they are not releasing the names and hometowns of the victims until next of kin have been notified.

The four injured were taken to Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace, a city of around 12,000 people that lies around 690 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

According to a statement Tuesday from Northern Health, all four injured were subsequently transported to other centres in B.C. for higher levels of care. Two remain in critical condition and two are listed in serious condition. 

The helicopter that crashed was a Koala Agusta A119 leased from Skyline Helicopters in Kelowna. Forrest said his company has been leasing the same helicopters for 20 years. 

“Every helicopter comes with a pilot and an engineer, and the engineer maintains the helicopter daily,” he said. “So there was certainly no indication of any mechanical issues at all.”

In a statement, Skyline president Teri Northcott said the company would work with authorities investigating the crash.

B.C. Emergency Health Services said it was notified of the crash at about 4:15 p.m. PT and dispatched three air ambulances and five ground ambulances.

Beside Northern Escape’s two other helicopters, a third from another company — White Wilderness Heli-Skiing — was called in to help shuttle the four surviving passengers from the mountain crash site to emergency responders.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB), B.C. Coroners Service, WorkSafeBC and RCMP are investigating the crash.

“Once we have the TSB report, which will take a while, we’ll have a better understanding of what happened,” said Forrest. “Currently, it looks like it’s just a terrible accident. You know, there’s not always someone to blame in these things.” 

Northern Escape has paused operations to undertake a critical incident stress debrief but Forrest said he is planning to reopen the business. 

In an earlier statement, Forrest expressed condolences. 

“It is impossible to put into words the profound grief that we feel and the sorrow that our guests and our staff share,” he said.