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Plane crashes on Terra Rosa Glacier

Three people in Cessna 172 rescued, uninjured

Pemberton RCMP are working with Transport Canada to figure out what caused a Dec. 20 plane crash on Terra Rosa Glacier, 20 miles northeast of Squamish.

At about 4:07 p.m. the RCMP received a report regarding a GPS spot beacon activation. They later confirmed a plane had gone down near the glacier in Garibaldi Provincial Park, according to an RCMP news release.

Another plane in the area made contact with the crashed plane and discovered there were three people on board with adequate survival gear. There were no injuries.

The plane was a Cessna 172, a high-wing aircraft that can accommodate a total of four passengers. All three people on board the plane were “plucked off” without further incident after the crash, according to Captain Dave Bowes, air coordinator at Victoria’s Joint Rescue Coordination Centre.

The Victoria JRCC first caught wind of the crash at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon. A Buffalo aircraft and Cormorant helicopter were dispatched to help the downed passengers. The Buffalo and the Cormorant took off at about 5 p.m., just as the sun was going down. Rescuers arrived on scene just after 6 p.m. and were able to retrieve the passengers by about 7:30 p.m.

When asked why the plane crashed, Bowes said, “I don’t know. We don’t ask why you crash, we rescue you.”

The JRCC did, at one point, request ground support from Pemberton Search and Rescue but they were never tasked, according to Dave Steers with Pemberton’s SAR.

RCMP are still trying to determine the cause of the crash.