Investigators recover voice recorder, talk to lone survivor of N.W.T. plane crash

RCMP sit at the airport where six people were killed in a plane crash in Fort Smith, N.W.T., on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. Investigators probing the crash have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and talked to the lone survivor.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Investigators probing a plane crash that killed six people in the Northwest Territories have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and talked to the lone survivor.

Jon Lee, western regional manager with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, says the investigation is in its early stages but there are encouraging signs the voice recorder captured good information.

One hurdle so far has been the weather.

Freezing rain has hampered efforts to retrieve the plane wreckage and transport it to the board’s offices in Edmonton.

The charter plane had just taken off last week from Fort Smith, on the boundary with Alberta, and was en route to the Diavik Diamond Mine when it hit the ground and caught fire.

Four mine workers and both flight crew members died, while another mine worker survived and was airlifted to hospital in Yellowknife.