Father killed in float-plane crash headed for lodge on annual trip
VANCOUVER — An American killed in a B.C. float plane crash last week was en route to a remote B.C. fishing lodge, an annual tradition lasting nearly three decades.
Steven Price, 72, owner of Coastal Steel Inc., was killed when a float plane went down Friday on Addenbroke Island, said Rich Weatherbee, the Tacoma company’s controller and longtime friend of the family.
Price’s son, Doug, suffered serious injuries to his legs and is in hospital in Vancouver, Weatherbee said.
Both are residents of Graham in Washington state.
The Cessna 208 Caravan, with nine people on board, was bound for Ole’s Hakai Pass Fishing Lodge on July 26 when it crashed around 11 a.m.
Steven and Doug were en route to the lodge as part of an annual trip.
“They were talking and having a good time and all of a sudden [Doug] looked out the window and saw trees and knew he was in trouble,” Weatherbee told Tacoma’s News Tribune. “It was only a matter of seconds later they hit the tree tops and went down.”
On Tuesday, the B.C. Coroners Service confirmed the nationalities and ages of the four people killed in the float-plane crash on Addenbroke Island but would not release names, citing provincial privacy legislation.
Aside from Price, the dead include pilot Allen McBain of Vancouver, a man in his 40s from South Carolina and a man in his 60s from Germany.
Five others on board the Seair Seaplane aircraft were injured. Two were airlifted to Vancouver in critical condition, while three others remained at local hospitals in serious but stable condition.
“We hope to move [Doug] down here to Harborview as soon as he’s stabilized,” Weatherbee said.
Doug Price is the secretarytreasurer and estimator for Coastal Steel, Weatherbee said. The company erects steel-framed structures and has built Fred Meyer, Walmart and Ikea buildings, he said. Steven Price started the company in 2005.
In a 2013 blog post on Ole’s website, Doug and his father Steven were celebrated for having fished with Ole’s for 20 years.
A photo linked to the July 2013 blog post featured father and son beaming on a dock as they hoisted two massive fish in front of an Ole’s Hakai Pass sign.
The Transportation Safety Board has sent investigators to the crash site, about 100 kilometres north of Port Hardy on northern Vancouver Island.