UPDATE 11:15 A.M.

More information is coming to light following the crash of a small plane on Highway 97 north of Osoyoos Tuesday afternoon.

Osoyoos RCMP have confirmed the pilot of the single engine Beechcraft was attempting to make an emergency landing on the highway after his plane lost power.

According to the pilot traffic on the highway was moderate at the time of the landing attempt. He apparently cleared the power lines but caught his wing on the rear of a semi trailer travelling north.

The plane hit the ground and slid hard into a telephone pole bursting into flames. The pilot, a 46-year-old Surrey man, suffered extensive burns to the majority of his body however, he was able to extricate himself from the wreckage.

He has been airlifted to the burn unit in Vancouver where he is listed in critical condition. The investigation has been turned over to the Transportation Safety Board.

The pilot was flying from Oliver to Boundary at the time of the crash.

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UPDATE 6:30 a.m.

DriveBC reports Highway 97 at the site of Tuesday evening's plane crash near Osoyoos was reopened to traffic at 1:18 a.m. this morning.

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UPDATE 8:30 p.m.

The Transportation Safety Board says a single-engine plane has crashed on a highway near a small town in British Columbia's southern Okanagan.

Spokesman Bill Yearwood says the plane ended up on Highway 97 near Osoyoos on Tuesday evening and its only occupant escaped before flames engulfed the aircraft.

Yearwood says investigators don't know why the plane crashed, although Osoyoos RCMP Sgt. Randy Bosch says it hit a semi-trailer.

Yearwood says firefighters extinguished the flames and an ambulance transported the pilot to hospital.

The Ministry of Transportation's DriveBC website says Highway 97 is closed in both directions two kilometres north of the junction with Highway 3 because of the crash.

Yearwood says the agency is assessing the incident to determine what level of investigation will be necessary.

– The Canadian Press

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UPDATED 6:47 P.M.

Highway 97 is closed about a kilometre north of Osoyoos after a single-engine airplane crashed and burned on the roadway.

The plane was destroyed, but the pilot, who was alone in the small aircraft, survived.

The Osoyoos Fire Department received the call shortly before 5 p.m.

It is not clear whether the pilot crashed on the highway, or was attempting an emergency landing.

The pilot managed to escape the aircraft, which burst into flames on impact with a power pole. A resident near the crash site provided him with a blanket until emergency crews arrived.

The unidentified man was taken by ambulance to the South Okanagan Regional Hospital in Oliver with undetermined injuries.

Traffic was blocked in both directions and onlookers were kept a safe distance from the crashed airplane for fear that the power pole the plane hit might topple.

Northbound traffic was being turned around and re-routed through Keremeos. Traffic headed to Osoyoos was directed to backroads through the orchards.

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ORIGINAL

A light aircraft has apparently crashed on Highway 97, just north of Osoyoos.

Castanet has a reporter heading to the scene and will provide more details as they become available.

A photo tweeted by Twitter user Brenda shows smoke rising behind a long line of stopped traffic.

The plane, said to be Cessna apparently clipped a tractor-trailer as it tried to land and caught fire as it crashed.

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