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ShareSurvivor of B.C. plane crash moved to Edmonton hospital to finish recovery
By The Canadian Press
Published: November 20, 2008 9:20 PM
VANCOUVER — The lone survivor of a B.C. plane crash that killed seven people has been transferred to an Edmonton hospital to continue his recovery.
Tom Wilson of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., suffered burns to his face, hands and leg when the Pacific Coastal Airlines seaplane slammed into a hillside on a remote island off the Sunshine Coast last Sunday.
The pilot and six other passengers aboard the Grumman Goose plane were killed, while Wilson didn’t even break a bone.
Doctors at Vancouver General Hospital have said it was “remarkable” that Wilson was alive, and he is expected to make a full recovery.
Wilson was transferred to Edmonton’s University of Alberta Hospital on Wednesday, health officials in both cities confirmed.
“He was stable enough to go there ... and he wanted to go home,” Anna Marie D’Angelo of Vancouver Coastal Health said Thursday.
It’s yet not known what caused the plane to go down on Thormanby Island, but investigators talked to Wilson earlier this week and said he remembers what happened and provided valuable information.
He was aboard the flight taking a work crew to a hydroelectric project near Powell River, B.C.
The seven men who were killed have been identified as pilot Peter McLeod and passengers Kyle Adams, Jerry Burns, Ajay Cariappa, Waldemar Klemens, Tom Orgar, Matt Sawchenko.
Pacific Coastal had voluntarily grounded all of its seaplanes after the crash, but has since resumed flights.
It was the second crash involving a Grumman Goose operated by Pacific Coastal in just over three months.
In August, five people were killed and two survived when a Goose went down on Vancouver Island. The Transportation Safety Board is still investigating the cause of that crash, as well as the Sunday crash.
