Small plane crashes

Photo: Barb Hulstein 

UPDATE: 2:25 p.m.

The Transportation Saftey Board has been called in to investigate the crash of a small plane on private property, just off Mabel Lake Road north of Lumby, reports RCMP.

“A single-engine de Havilland Beaver float plane crashed on private property,” said Cpl. Trevor Tribes of the Lumby RCMP.

The three occupants were Lumby residents who were “able to scramble from the wreckage” before it caught fire, said Tribes. The three had only minor injuries.

Tribes said the pilot was co-operating with the investigation.

The officer refused to speculate on the cause of the crash.

UPDATE: 1:25 p.m.

RCMP in Vernon have commented on a small plane that crashed near the Lumby-Mabel Lake Road around 10:40 a.m. Tuesday.

Cpl. Joe Leeson says the small aircraft with three people on board crashed in a field and was consumed by fire.

The three men on board managed to get out before the plane caught fire.

Leeson says the three escaped with only minor injuries. 

UPDATE: 12:04 p.m.

Three people have escaped unhurt from a small plane that went down in the 600 block of Mabel Lake Road then caught fire this morning, according to an eyewitness.

The plane crashed a few hundred feet from a house, said the witness who did not want to be identified.

"I heard it and then I saw it going down," said the woman. "I ran out and yelled out at the pilot who popped his head out the window and said, 'Everything is OK.'"

The witness said all three men got out of the plane before it caught fire.

Fire crews on scene put out the blaze.

"It's a wreck," said the witness. "A complete write-off."

The pilot is said to be a local resident who had taken off in the aircraft shortly before the crash landing. 

There has been a small plane crash near Mabel Lake Road in the Lumby area, according to fire Chief Tony Clayton.

Clayton said emergency crews are on the scene.

He had no further details.