FILE -- A Conair water bomber flies past a wildfire burning out of control after dropping fire retardant on the other side of the mountain in Kelowna, B.C., on Monday July 20, 2009. A waterbomber battling wildfires in the B.C. interior has crashed. Captain Marguerite Dodds-Lepinski, the public affairs officer for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, says the aircraft was reported down Saturday night just before nine o’clock, local time. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
VICTORIA - A waterbomber battling wildfires in the B.C. interior has crashed.
Captain Marguerite Dodds-Lepinski, the public affairs officer for the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria, says the aircraft was reported down Saturday night just before nine o’clock, local time.
Dodds-Lepinski says the crash site is about 10 nautical miles south of Lytton.
She said it was believed, but not confirmed, that the watertanker owned by Abbotsford-based Conair had two crewmembers on board. Their fate is currently unknown.
Dodds-Lepinki says one Cormorant and one Buffalo aircraft from 19 Wing Comox on Vancouver Island are en route to the crash site approximately 260 kilometres east of Vancouver.
