Six killed in Canada float plane crash

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A float plane has crashed off Canada's Pacific coast, killing six people, including an infant. Two people on board survived.

The Dehavilland Beaver aircraft went down on Sunday during takeoff in Lyall Harbour, off Saturna Island in British Columbia's Gulf Islands - about 80 kilometres south of Vancouver.

Only two of the eight on board - the pilot and a female passenger - were rescued within minutes of the crash and both are expected to survive, although one has serious injuries while the other is listed in stable condition.

A float plane is an aircraft equipped with pontoons for water landings.

Coast guard spokesman Troy Haddock said divers recovered the bodies of six people who were trapped in the plane which sank in 11 metres of water, moments after going down. Officials did not yet have information on the ages or genders of the victims.

James White heard the crash and rushed to his skiff to look for survivors, but while he got into Lyall Harbour within minutes, the plane had already slipped beneath the water.

"There was no sign of anybody else or any other debris from the aircraft so I think it probably sank pretty fast," White said.

He found a woman and the pilot close together in the water, both conscious and begging for help.

White couldn't pull the two of them into his boat on his own, so he tied them to the side of his vessel for a few minutes until other boats came to help.

Captain Bob Evans at the Joint Rescue Co-Ordination Centre in Victoria said officials searched for seven hours before finding the plane and recovering the victims.

Last year there were two fatal float plane crashes off the coast of British Columbia.

In August 2008, five people were killed when a Pacific Coastal Airlines Grumman Goose crashed on Vancouver Island.

In November 2008, one man survived a crash that killed seven others on Thormanby Island, located between the British Columbia mainland and northern Vancouver Island.

- AP