'He just absolutely lovedeverybody': 2 victims of small plane crash near Smithers, B.C., identified - Action News
Home WebMail Friday, November 22, 2024, 12:09 PM | Calgary | -10.5°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
British Columbia

'He just absolutely lovedeverybody': 2 victims of small plane crash near Smithers, B.C., identified

CBC News has identified two of the three menwho died in a small plane crash northeast of Smithers, B.C., on Saturday.

Small plane that crashed carried crew contracted by B.C. Wildfire Service

Amir Sedghi died after the small plane he was in crashed near Smithers, B.C. He is remembered by his family as being "full of life." (Ammar Sedghi)

CBC News has identified two of the menwho died in a small plane crash northeast of Smithers, B.C., on Saturday. The crash killed three people and injured one.

One of the victims was 26-year-oldAmir Ilya Sedghi.

His brother AmmarSedghi says his family is devastated, andadds thatAmirwas always full of life.

"He was loving and he had a unique sense of humour," Ammarsaid about Amir.

"The most intense situations ... He could just crack a joke and make everyone laugh."

WATCH: Amir Sedghi's family speaks to CBC following his death in a plane crash

Family of Smithers plane crash victim mourn their loss

5 years ago
Duration 1:58
Ammar Sedghi, whose brother Amir Sedghi died in a plane crash on Saturday, May 4, says Amir had a calming presence.

Above all, Ammar says he hopes people will remember his brother's care for others.

"Whether he knew them or he didn't know them ...He just absolutely lovedeverybody."

A second victimhas been confirmed as Lorne Borgal, one of Amir's colleagues and the former CEO of the Hudson Bay Mountain Resort in Smithers.

"If you knew Lorne, you knew he was real. His integrity isuncanny and he is respected and loved by so many," said Chrissy Chapman, who worked atHudson Bay MountainwithBorgal.

"We're all going to feel that loss."

Borgal and Amir Segdhi grew up together as neighbours, says Ammar, and it was Borgal who gave Amira job at Precision Vectors.

"They loved each other. They loved working together," he said.

Segdhi says the familiesare waiting for the bodies to be transferredto Vancouver from Smithers.

On contract for the B.C. Wildfire Service

Ammar Sedghi says his brother and Lorne worked for a company called Precision Vectors, which provides detailed aerial imagery.

The plane went down, he says,during an imagery-gathering flight for the B.C. Wildfire Service.

A stock photo of a Cessna 182, the same type of plane that crashed in B.C. after taking off from Calgary on Thursday. (Shutterstock)

Doug Donaldson, Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, says the crew wasconducting infrared scans of some of the 2018 wildfires.

Both Donaldson and Kevin Skrepnek, B.C.'s chief fire information officer, have issued statements saying theirthoughts and sympathies go to the families and friends of those involved.

RCMP Sgt. Darren Durnin saidthe crash site was located by helicopter search crews in Babine River Corridor Provincial Park and a conscious male passenger was seen outside the plane, but the landscape made it impossible to get him out.

Durnin saidin a statement that a rescue technician was lowered at another location and walked to the site where it was discovered a pilot and two passengers had died.

The survivor was rescued by helicopter using a long line, then transported to medical care, and police say he is in stable condition.

The statement saidthe bodies of the three men who didn't survive have been recovered, and both the B.C. Coroners Service and Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

With files from Joel Ballard and Pamela McCall