Bodies of victims in B.C. heli-skiing crash recovered: company president

Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) signage is pictured outside TSB offices in Ottawa, Monday, May 1, 2023. The head of the heli-skiing company involved in a fatal crash north of Terrace, B.C., last Monday says the bodies of the three victims have been recovered. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

The bodies of three people killed in a heli-skiing crash north of Terrace, B.C., last Monday have been recovered, the head of the guiding company said.

A statement from John Forrest, president of Northern Escape Heli-Skiing, said the RCMP along with Terrace Search and Rescue led the effort on Sunday.

The victims of the Jan. 22 crash have been identified as three Italians.

Terrace Search and Rescue manager Dave Jephson also said last week that poor weather had been hampering efforts to recover the victims’ bodies.

In his statement on Sunday, Forrest said he knows how important it has been for their families to have their loved ones recovered from the mountain.

The days after the crash “have been filled with grief,” he added.

“My heart continues to go out to all those impacted and their loved ones.”

Police have said another four people were badly injured in the crash.

One of the passengers had used a radio to notify the heli-skiing company of the crash, and crews with two other choppers in the same backcountry area joined in in the rescue effort, Forrest told a news conference last week.

The four survivors were taken to a local hospital before being transported elsewhere in B.C. for higher levels of care, he said.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it deployed a team of investigators to the site of the crash.

The downed helicopter was part of Kelowna-based Skyline Helicopters’ fleet.

A statement last week from that company’s president, Teri Northcott, said the crash had caused “profound grief.”

Skyline will “provide support in any way that it can,” the statement said.

The company “will also work closely with the RCMP and other authorities as the cause of the incident is investigated,” it said.