6 dead after small plane crashes in Rockies west of Calgary | CBC News

Six people are dead after a small plane crashed Friday night in the mountains west of Calgary. 

RCMP said five passengers and one pilot were onboard the aircraft, which left Springbank Airport near Calgary around 9 p.m. en route to Salmon Arm, B.C, for a church function. 

Staff Sgt. Ryan R.J. Singleton said that relatives lost contact with the plane around 9:30 p.m. Around 1 a.m. Saturday, the plane was reported overdue, prompting a search for the aircraft. 

Crews traced the emergency locator transmitter to the crash site in Kananaskis Country, a mountainous area roughly 100 kilometres west of Calgary. 

The crash left no survivors. The identities of the victims were not released. 

“On behalf of the Alberta RCMP, I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the families of those onboard the aircraft,” Singleton said. 

Alberta Parks Mountain Rescue, Royal Canadian Air Force, Kananaskis Emergency Service and other agencies responded to the crash. 

While all six bodies were recovered, the “difficult terrain” proved to be a challenge, Singleton said. 

Mike Koppang, a mountain rescue specialist with Kananaskis Country, said crews were on the scene for most of Saturday morning and the early hours of the afternoon. 

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the outcome we would have liked to see,” he said. 

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating the crash, which they say involved a Piper PA32 aircraft.

Liam MacDonald, a TSB spokesperson, said the crash site was located roughly five kilometres north of Kananaskis Village. 

It is yet unclear what caused the crash.