THE body of the third plane passenger has been recovered from the float plane that plunged into Tyaughton Lake in Gold Bridge, about 100 km west of Lillooet on Wednesday, the RCMP announced on Thursday. The 29-year-old male passenger was from Aldergrove.
The BC RCMP (E Division) Underwater Recovery Team recovered the body and the investigation has been turned over to the Transportation Safety Board and the BC Coroners Service.
On August 1, at 12:56 p.m., Lillooet RCMP were notified that a small float plane had crashed into Tyaughton Lake. According to witnesses, the plane plunged into the lake shortly after take off. Further calls to 911 advised that a number of witnesses to the crash were trying to rescue the plane occupants.
When police arrived, they confirmed that a 20-year-old male passenger from Prince George was dead. The pilot of the plane, a 20-year-old Williams Lake man, survived and was transported to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. He managed to make it out of the wreckage on his own but was pulled from the water by nearby witnesses in the area.
The BC RCMP’s recovery team was called in to assist in the search for the third male passenger who was believed to have been in the capsized plane.