1 fatality after small plane crashes at Haines Junction, Yukon, airport

A sign in Haines Junction, Yukon. (Anna Desmarais/CBC)

Cessna plane was owned and operated by Burwash Landing-based Rocking Star Adventures Ltd.

Yukon’s chief coroner says her office is investigating a fatality connected to a plane crash on Monday at the Haines Junction, Yukon, airport.

According to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), a Cessna U206G owned and operated by Rocking Star Adventures Ltd. crashed Monday afternoon.

The incident happened just after 3:30 p.m., when the aircraft “collided with terrain on the airport’s ground,” according to an email from the TSB.

The TSB did not say how many people were on board the plane, or provide details of injuries or fatalities.

“Very shocking” 

However, in a statement to CBC News early Monday evening, chief coroner Heather Jones confirmed her office was investigating “a fatality which is in association with an airplane crash occurring at the Haines Jct airport earlier this afternoon.”

Haines Junction Mayor Bruce Tomlin also told CBC News on Monday evening that medevac planes had been sent from Whitehorse earlier and that “people were hurt.”

He said the incident was “very shocking.”

The TSB said in an email that it was still “gathering information, assessing the occurrence, and determining the next steps.”

RCMP said late Monday afternoon that they had secured the site and were waiting for investigators from Transport Canada to arrive.

Rocking Star Adventures, based in Burwash Landing, Yukon, offers aerial tours of the nearby glaciers to tourists, and also charter services for the mining and oil and gas industries, as well as for research work.

The company’s website says its Cessna 206 aircraft can accommodate up to five passengers.