One pilot died in Whitehorse helicopter crash, company says

One pilot died in a helicopter crash near Whitehorse on Friday.
The crash, which is being investigated by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, happened during a test flight operated by company Horizon Helicopters on Friday afternoon.
Horizon Helicopters confirmed one of the two pilots in the helicopter at the time of the crash died as a result of the accident.
"Our heartfelt condolences are extended to the family of the deceased. Out of respect for their privacy and in support of our team, we kindly ask for privacy during this difficult time," the company said in a Facebook post confirming the death.

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Edmonton Journal

31 minutes ago

• Edmonton Journal

Vermilion plane crash claims two lives

Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) signage is pictured outside TSB offices in Ottawa on Monday, May 1, 2023. Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press A passenger and pilot were killed in a plane crash near Vermilion's aerodrome just past noon Saturday. RCMP responded to the scene, just 1.2 kilometres from the aerodrome's runway. The pilot, a 46-year-old woman from Slave Lake, and the passenger, a 76-year-old man from Mannville, did not survive the crash. RCMP Cpl. Gina Slaney said police responded after witnesses in the area said they had seen a plane go down. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Nic Defalco, spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, said that air-crash investigators have been dispatched, and would arrive at the crash scene some time Saturday evening. 'It's too early to say anything about the incident,' said Defalco. Investigators can't confirm if the plane was landing or taking off, or even the model of the aircraft. 'We are deploying investigators to the scene, and that's basically where we're at.' The aerodrome has a single runway, at 966 metres long. Vermilion is located 193 kilometres east of Edmonton. Read More . Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters. You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun Cult of Hockey Edmonton Oilers Cult of Hockey Cult of Hockey News

Toronto Sun

2 days ago

• Toronto Sun

MANDEL: Agency found negligent for employee's drowning fined $225,000

Unfortunately the money will go to the Ontario government not the dead man's family Get the latest from Michele Mandel straight to your inbox Ashiru Sarafa Awoyemi (seen here with his wife), a 50-year-old support worker for intellectually disabled adults at New Leaf: Living and Learning Together Inc. – just north of Newmarket – was not a good swimmer and drowned while taking a difficult client swimming on Feb. 12, 2021. Facebook Ashiru Sarafa Awoyemi was a dedicated, hardworking support worker for intellectually disabled adults near Newmarket – but he should never have been told to take a client swimming. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Nigerian refugee wasn't a good swimmer. On Feb. 12, 2021, Awoyemi's lifeless body was discovered by a co-worker at the bottom of the pool operated by New Leaf: Living and Learning Together Inc. In that avoidable tragedy, the 50-year-old man's dream of bringing his four children here from Nigeria died with him as well. Three years later, an Ontario Court judge found the otherwise 'remarkable' non-profit agency and its genuinely remorseful former day program manager Colin Lang guilty of multiple violations under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act. In a sentencing judgment this week, Justice Rohan Robinson ordered the cash-strapped New Leaf to pay $225,000 in fines within 10 years while Lang has five years to pay $30,000. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I am troubled by New Leaf's grim financial picture that has been painted. The reality is that the greater the fine, the more current or prospective clients will suffer. This does not sit well with me,' Robinson wrote. Awoyemi's union believes the sentence falls far short. 'The neglect by New Leaf led to the death of a father and husband who went to work that day so he could provide to his family in Nigeria and reach his dream of bringing them to Canada. Instead, his life was stolen, and his family's dreams were shattered,' SEIU Healthcare President Tyler Downey said in a statement. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'These weak fines are not justice and won't prevent more tragedies in the future. If you kill a worker, you should go to jail.' Read More According to the ruling, the pandemic had shut down New Leaf's pool and day programs and a difficult client identified as John was having serious behavioural issues as a result. He needed two PSWs – Awoyemi and Jack Johnson – to deal with him because of his size and aggression. A decision was made to reopen the pool for John's use but Johnson refused to accompany them because of the client's recent aggression and he tried to dissuade Awoyemi from going with him alone. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Unfortunately, Mr. Ashiru did not take Mr. Johnson's advice,' wrote Robinson. The pool was locked and the aquatic supervisor was away sick. Lang told housekeeping to open the doors and dismissed concerns that Awoyemi was there alone, reassuring himself in a text to another supervisor that 'I'm sure John will stay in the shallow end.' 'This suggests a genuine concern for John's well-being, but no thought whatsoever for Mr. Ashiru's,' wrote the judge. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Ashiru Sarafa Awoyemi (seen here with his wife), a 50-year-old support worker for intellectually disabled adults at New Leaf: Living and Learning Together Inc. – just north of Newmarket – was not a good swimmer and drowned while taking a difficult client swimming on Feb. 12, 2021. Facebook The New Leaf pool policy at the time required two staff in attendance, at least one of whom was a 'competent' swimmer. ' I find that Mr. Lang's tragic lapse in judgment on 12 February 2021 was significantly motivated by his genuine desire to find a way to help client John. However, this came at the expense of Mr. Ashiru's safety.' Three of Awoyemi's devastated children filed victim impact statements, detailing their loving and much-loved dad. 'The children remain distraught at the loss of their father. Moreover, their ability to immigrate to Canada and attend post-secondary education has seemingly vanished as a direct result.' But it seems wrong that they will see none of the money that New Leaf and its former manager have been ordered to pay. Robinson regretted not being legally allowed to earmark the fines for Awoyemi's family, rather than the Ontario government, but suggested such an amendment 'may well be an area worthy of consideration' to help future victims. mmandel@ News MMA NHL Editorial Cartoons Soccer

4 days ago

Search for century-old artifact from Canadian shipwreck solved with a call from the U.S.

David Saint-Pierre says he had little information to go on in his effort to hunt down the keeper of a 111-year-old artifact from the shipwrecked Empress of Ireland. He had a photo of a man in a diving suit, an address from 1975 and a name: Ronald Stopani. Saint-Pierre — a maritime historian who has studied artifacts recovered from the site of the 1914 shipwreck off the coast of Rimouski, Que. — treated it like a modern-day scavenger hunt. He was looking for the Marconi wireless apparatus, the communication system used to receive and send wireless telegraphs on the ship before it sank, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 people. The system included a tuner, work table and keys to send messages. Saint-Pierre and staff at the Empress of Ireland Museum in Rimouski discovered it was found and recovered during an expedition to the site 51 years ago by a diving crew from Rochester, N.Y. With Saint-Pierre's help, the museum found Stopani — a member of the diving crew who first pulled it up from the water in the 70s — and in the spring, the apparatus was sent back to Quebec. 'I didn't even know if that man was still alive' The process of finding Stopani involved dozens of emails, Facebook messages, a handful of phone calls and physical letters, says Saint-Pierre. I didn't even know if that man was still alive, said Saint-Pierre. It was a shot in the dark. The Empress of Ireland is shown in an undated photo. The Canadian Pacific steamship collided with a Norwegian freighter near Quebec on May 29, 1914, sinking in 14 minutes and killing 1,012 people. (Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père) Photo: (Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père) He says he wrote to probably anyone with the last name Stopani on Facebook for a few weeks. If your name is Stopani, you probably have one of my messages in your junk box, joked Saint-Pierre. One day in January, he got a call back. In an interview with CBC News, Stopani said he still had the apparatus stored in a clear storage box in his home in Las Vegas — and he was eager to donate it. As soon as I opened up the letter, it even had a picture of me in there so I knew exactly what it was, said Stopani, reached in Las Vegas. I wanted to donate them for a while, but I had no way of contacting anybody. The 81-year-old, who splits his time between his homes in Florida and Nevada, says he half expected to be contacted. Years earlier, the family of his best friend, Fred Zeller — who had led diving expeditions to the shipwreck and who recently passed away — told Stopani that they travelled to the Rimouski museum to donate artifacts Zeller found and documents from over the years. Included in the donation was the photo of Stopani with the Marconi and correspondence between him and Zeller from the mid-1970s — when the pair met up to dive the shipwreck together. It was that photo and letter which first inspired Saint-Pierre and museum staff to find Stopani — and the pictured artifacts. Five decades later, Stopani still remembers the day he pulled the items up from the floor of the St. Lawrence River — decades before it was prohibited to recover artifacts. Believe me, it was cold, he said, adding that during the dive in July, he could see small pieces of ice floating in the river. He recalled inflating his dry suit to float up to the surface with a bag that he says weighed about 30 kilograms. For the next 51 years, the artifact was well-travelled as he brought it with him on his moves from Rochester to Brampton, Ont., to Florida and finally Las Vegas. Having shipped the Marconi out a few months ago, he says sending it back to Quebec made him feel elated. Artifact to be sent for restoration work Roxane Julien-Friolet, a museologist, says the Marconi arrived at the museum in mid-March and in great condition. We're just amazed and really honoured to have this really important object part of our collection now, said Julien-Friolet. She says it will be sent for restoration work and then displayed. Operated by telegraphist Ronald Ferguson, this device was a very useful tool, she says, and part of the reason some were saved from the wreck in 1914 after an SOS message was sent. Saint-Pierre says laying eyes on the device gives historians even more information as to what happened on board. In a photo, Saint-Pierre's friend noticed the switch on the tuner was turned off. It means that … [Ferguson] had to abandon his post [but] he took the time to turn the machine off, said Saint-Pierre. Which was standard protocol. So really a professional man. Ferguson was one of the 465 survivors of the wreck and lived until the 1980s, he says. Saint-Pierre has since connected with Ferguson's son, who lives in the U.K., and informed him that his father's instrument was finally found. That was also a great moment for me to be able to tell [him], said Saint-Pierre. Knowing that it was still in existence and that it would be in the museum was really emotional for him. Rachel Watts (new window) · CBC News