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Bad weather delays search for float plane passengers at Labrador crash site

Jul 18, 2019 | 2:43 PM

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Bad weather has forced the RCMP to call off flights taking search teams to the remote Labrador lake where a float plane carrying seven people crashed on Monday.

Three bodies have been found and four men are still missing, though authorities have suggested there is little hope of finding survivors so many days after the crash, the cause of which is still unknown.  

RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jolene Garland says multiple air trips will be needed to carry personnel and equipment to Mistastin Lake, about 100 kilometres southwest of Nain, where debris from the plane was spotted on Tuesday.

Garland initially said the plan was to have everyone on site today, and that flights had begun, but she later clarified after speaking with officers in Labrador that no flights were able to take off because of heavy rain and high winds.

Pilot Gilles Morin, 61, of Quebec has been identified by his employer as one of the seven men on board.

The RCMP said the two fishing guides on board were from Newfoundland and Labrador and the four fishermen, travelling from Three Rivers Lodge in Labrador to a remote fishing site, were from the United States.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the RCMP had begun flights to the crash site.