Members of the Maine Warden Service were on the scene of a plane crash in an unorganized territory 55 miles due west of Portage Lake Tuesday that reportedly injured one and claimed the life of a second individual.
The wreckage of a single-engine plane was located Monday evening along the Maine-Quebec border, in a remote section of northern Maine. Maine State Police, the MWS and Maine Emergency Management Agency worked together to coordinate the search for the plane, whose pilot had radioed at mid-afternoon that he was experiencing icing and was going to attempt to find an air strip to land. The airplane’s emergency responder was activated a short time afterwards.
Initially, the crash site was believed to be in northern Somerset County but upon further investigation, it was determined to be in Aroostook County, located near Depot Lake, about 11 miles north of the Daaquam border crossing, near the Maine-Quebec border. Emergency personnel were using logging roads to access the site.
Weather was being blamed for the crash.
“Monday’s storm was a factor for a team of Maine wardens who responded to the area that evening via snowmobiles. Up to two feet of snow fell in the area and most of the logging roads had not been plowed” at the time wardens were responding to investigate, said Steve McCausland, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
McCausland said a Canadian search and rescue helicopter located the crash site Monday evening, reporting one person was killed in the crash and a second was injured.
“The helicopter airlifted the injured person from the crash site and was flying to a hospital in Quebec. The identities of the plane’s occupants” were not being released until next of kin could be notified, said McCausland.
Wardens and state police made the trek to the crash site Tuesday, located approximately 55 miles west of Portage.
“Maine game wardens and state police were at the crash site Tuesday morning, securing it and awaiting a representative from the National Transportation Safety Board, which will conduct the crash investigation,” said Deborah Turcotte, spokesperson, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Turcotte said the body of the man killed was removed and transported to the Maine State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy.
MWS Lts. Tom Ward and Kevin Adam were heading the investigation. They explained how the investigation has progressed overnight.
“Warden Chief Pilot Charlie Later, who departed from Greenville, located the site and was directing wardens and state police to it from the air,” said Adam.
“Wardens Ed Christie and Kevin Pelkey transported State Police Sgt. Brian Harris and Trooper Todd Stetson to the scene. They’re able to drive within eight miles of the site, then had to sled and snowshoe into the area,” said Ward.
Wardens cleared a trail, packed it down and were able to take equipment in to help remove the body.
“Warden Gary Sibley Jr. took extra equipment to the site and was on the scene” with other emergency personnel, said Ward.
Officials faced difficult conditions as they made their way to the downed aircraft.
“There’s six feet of snow — 24 inches new and four feet under that. Snowmobiles were getting hung up by the snow Monday night, so wardens cleared the sleds and continued to the scene using snowshoes as well,” said Ward.
The craft was described as a Diamond DA-40, a single-engine plane with four seats. The plan had reportedly left Halifax, Nova Scotia, earlier on Monday, en route to Quebec, and may have been on its return flight, said McCausland.
Sgt. Dan Menard assisted Ward and Adam in coordinating efforts. Also assisting at the scene Monday evening were: Wardens Andrew Smart, Chad Abbot, Jeff Spencer, Preston Pomerleau and Ethan Buuck.
