Rescuers search for missing helicopter travelling from Calgary believed to have crashed in B.C.
Rescue crews are actively trying to find a helicopter that is believed to have crashed after it went missing east of Revelstoke, B.C., in Glacier National Park on Friday.
An RCMP spokesperson told CBC News they received a report of a missing heli‐ copter shortly before 7 p.m. PT Friday.
Capt. Pedram Mohyeddin, a spokesperson for Maritime Forces Pacific, said the forces had received word of an over‐ due private helicopter at around 8:40 p.m. PT in the
Revelstoke area.
Ground crews were still searching for the craft around 3:30 p.m. PT on Saturday and believe it "most likely" crashed, Mohyeddin said.
"The joint rescue co-ordi‐ nation centre is conducting this search as if it is a crashed helicopter, but there is no vi‐ sual verification at this point," Mohyeddin told CBC News.
He said the craft believed to be missing was travelling from Calgary, Alta., to Sicamous, B.C., according to its flight plan, but Mohyeddin said rescue crews don't know how many people were aboard.
Shortly after the craft went missing, "the Canadian Mis‐ sion Control Centre received a ping from an emergency loca‐ tor transmitter (ELT) approxi‐ mately 10 nautical miles [18.5 kilometres] east of Revel‐ stoke," he said.
Revelstoke is a resort com‐ munity in the ColumbiaShuswap Regional District, lo‐ cated 400 kilometres north‐ east of Vancouver and 289 kilometres west of Calgary.
While search-and-rescue and military aircraft were charged with finding the miss‐ ing helicopter, Mohyeddin told CBC News that low visibil‐ ity in the area was preventing them from operating.
"Currently ground searchand-rescue, the Royal Canadi‐ an Mounted Police and the Civil Air Search and Rescue As‐ sociation [CASARA] are searching the vicinity of that ELT signal by ground," he said Saturday afternoon.
Mohyeddin said the CASARA has provided a drone capable of detecting heat sig‐ natures that crews will use to continue the search.
The spokesperson added that crews were searching in the vicinity of Highway 1 for the helicopter.