‘I thought I was dead’: survivor relives crash
Aircraft started to rock shortly after takeoff from Fond du Lac
FOND DU LAC Fifteen-year-old Lyman Fern says he’s grateful to be alive after the plane he was on crashed outside the northern community of Fond du Lac on Wednesday night.
The teenager — who survived with several cuts on his hands, a gash on his head and a headache — was one of 22 passengers and three crew members on board when the West Wind Aviation flight went down near Fond du Lac’s airport.
Fern said everything was normal prior to the flight, but shortly after the plane took off from the small northern community, things started feeling off, as the aircraft started to rock back and forth.
“On the fourth time, it just went down and the engines cut off, too. It was just dark on the plane,” he said. “I just closed my eyes. I didn’t know what to do. I never even got knocked out.”
He said when he opened his eyes, he was lying on a bunch of branches.
His seatbelt had come off and he wasn’t in his seat. The plane was quiet and dark.
“Once I looked around at everything, for a second, I thought I was dead,” he said.
Medical professionals checked him over at a nearby clinic and nurses told him he was OK, he said.
“If you really think that there’s someone out there, there really is a higher power.”
His grandmother, Shirley Fern, said she’s happy her grandson is alive. While he appears to be in good spirits, he is in a lot of pain, she said.
Ivan Adam, a Northern Ranger, was the first person to arrive at the scene.
He heard the crash from his house and sprang into action, driving his snowmobile to the site.
“I just said, ‘Oh my God. I hope there’s survivors,’ ” he recalled.
“All I just said was ‘Hello?’ and as soon as I said that, there were people asking for ‘Help. Help.’ ”
Adam went to get help and asked someone to post on Facebook that a plane had crashed, there were survivors and people needed help.
“About five, 10 minutes later, there were people already coming in with blankets and everything, so we were hauling people back and forth,” he said.
He had to use the flashlight on his phone during the rescue operation because material leaking from the plane made using a match or lighter dangerous.
Within an hour and a half, Ivan said rescuers were able to get the majority of the people out.
Some passengers took longer to remove than others — rescuers needed to use a loader to remove one boy.
On Thursday, Rick Philipenko, West Wind Aviation’s vice-president of finance and chief financial officer, said the cause of the crash of the twin engine ATR-42 turboprop is unknown.
He said the Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation, alongside an internal investigation by West Wind.
“This was an accident,” he said. “West Wind Aviation prides itself on its safety record and we’ll continue to be relentless with regards to that being a primary objective of West Wind.
“This has probably been as severe an accident as we’ve had.”
The plane was headed to Stony Rapids from Fond du Lac. Many of the injured passengers and crew were being cared for at medical facilities in Fond du Lac and Stony Rapids on Thursday.
Five people with non-lifethreatening injuries were being transported to other medical facilities, including Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Philipenko said.
Fond du Lac Coun. Ronnie Augier said the entire community was shaken.
He thanked community members, volunteers and first-responders for their work, from “the bottom of my heart.”
“We never expected (something like this) and no one was prepared for this sort of event. It was something, really, really terrifying, horrifying and something shocking for the whole community,” he said.
“We will stick here by your sides 100 per cent on this event and try to assist everybody and accommodate everybody to the best needs we can.”
Transportation Safety Board investigators arrive at the scene on Thursday afternoon.
Members of the media were not permitted to view the site because the investigation was in its early stages.
Speaking to reporters outside the airport, TSB operations investigator David Ross said two investigators are on-site and more personnel will respond in the coming days.
He said the TSB will look at equipment, the operation of the aircraft, the operator and whatever other information is available.
“We don’t have any other information at this time with regards to the actual flight or the actual occurrence. We’re very much in the initial stages of the investigation,” he said.
Ross said the field investigation will be conducted at Fond du Lac and will then continue from the TSB offices in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.
Fond du Lac Chief Louis Mercredi said all members of his community have been shaken by the crash.
“A lot of them are traumatized with the accident that happened. We never experienced anything like this ever and now the whole community needs attention with the mental health assistance services,” he said.
Mercredi said organizations including the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the Prince Albert Grand Council and Indigenous Services Canada have offered support. He said mental health therapists will be flown to the community.
He has heard from band members who were in Prince Albert for medical procedures when the plane went down and are now afraid to fly back to Fond du Lac, he said. “They’re just as traumatized as everyone else back home. They don’t want to leave. We’ve got to get my people home somehow. We are in desperate need for an all-season road.”
TSB staff are set to remain at the site for the next few days as the investigation continues.
We never expected (something like this) and no one was prepared for this sort of event. FOND DU LAC COUNCILLOR
RONNIE AUGIER