Three people are dead following a helicopter crash on Sunday evening in the Vérendrye wildlife reserve in western Quebec.
The deaths of Gérard Legault, 80, his wife Aurore Legault, 77, and their grandson Jake Barfield, 20, were confirmed by McMines, a supplier of mining equipment and pipes in Amos, Que.
Legault had founded the company in the 1980s. On their Facebook page, Odrée Maude Vachon, the director of McMines, said she announces the death of the family with “profound sadness.”
“Thank you to all those who looked for them, asked for news, offered to help — we can’t name them all, there are so many,” read the post.
Police had been notified around 11:15 p.m. Sunday that three people aboard a helicopter had encountered difficulties in the wildlife reserve.
“According to initial reports, weather conditions were difficult. The missing persons had advised their relatives that they had to land in the wildlife reserve until the weather improved,” said provincial police spokesperson Sgt. Jean-Raphaël Drolet.
“But their relatives had not heard from them since.”
The helicopter had submerged in a lake and the search by provincial police divers turned up two people. They were transported to the Val-d’Or, Que., hospital where they were pronounced dead.
The body of the third person was found on Monday.
Investigators from the province’s major crimes unit are in charge of the investigation, in collaboration with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB).
In an email, Hugo Fontaine, media co-ordinator with the TSB, says a team of investigators are on their way to the accident site.
He says the insurer for the helicopter will extract the aircraft from the lake on Wednesday.
“We will assist them in recovering applicable information about the aircraft and its environment,” read the email.
“We plan to meet with some witnesses and are also in the process of gathering information related to weather conditions, the pilot and the aircraft.”