Names of chopper crash victims released

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Posted By Brandi Cramer/North Bay Nugget

Posted 1 month ago

Ontario Provincial Police have identified the victims of a helicopter crash between Elk Lake and Gowganda Friday afternoon.

Ethan Boucha, 19, of Rat Portage, Ont., and John Tumchewics, 21, of Yellowknife, died when the Bell 206 B, hit a tower.

They left North Bay en route to Kapuskasing.

"In the area of Elk Lake, the aircraft hit a tower and subsequently impacted the ground," said Ken Webster, a regional senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Webster did identify Boucha and Tumchewics as employees of the North Bay company.

Ontario Provincial Police received an emergency call from a berry picker at about 2 p.m. Friday. It took crews about 50 minutes to arrive at the scene, according to an OPP media release.

"It's a heavily wooded area with a rough bush road," Const. Rock Belanger said Friday evening. "You're in the middle of the bush."

Terry Fiset, the reeve of James Township and a volunteer with the Elk Lake Volunteer Fire Department, responded to the scene Friday providing emergency response services and equipment.

Fiset could not comment other than to say the chief of the department would issue a statement in the coming days.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to the families," he said Saturday afternoon.

Elk Lake is 130 kilometres north of North Bay. Gowganda is about 30 kilometres west of Elk Lake.

"We're still looking into weather conditions," Webster said, adding the investigation, including whether there was any sort of radio communication or safety deficiencies and interviews with the company, will continue this week.

Provincial police crews from Temiskaming and Englehart, as well as the OPP helicopter also responded to the scene.

newsroom@nugget.ca

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