Two people have been seriously injured after a plane collided with a boat while trying to take off in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour.
Vancouver Fire Rescue said the two, while seriously injured, are not in life-threatening condition.
Assistant fire chief Walter Pereira said there were four people on board the boat at the time of the crash, which happened just before 1 p.m. The other two were uninjured.
No injuries have been reported for those on board the plane.
Global News has obtained video from a witness, which shows the plane colliding with the boat.
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A Global News camera operator saw at least two people being taken away on stretchers and the plane being towed away by a boat.
Another video from the scene shows the small plane partially submerged just off the coastline.
The Port Of Vancouver confirmed the collision later Saturday afternoon.
“We can confirm there was a collision between a Harbour Air float plane and a recreational boat at 12:51 p.m. at the entrance of Coal Harbour,” Arpen Rana said, a Port of Vancouver spokesperson.
“Canadian Coast Guard alerted the port authority and other first responders about the incident. A port authority harbour patrol vessel and other emergency response vessels responded to the incident immediately.”
Harbour Air Vancouver said details are extremely limited at this time, but also confirmed there’s an ongoing incident.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is investigating the incident.
TransLink spokeswoman Tina Lovgreen said, in another social media post, that the captain of the SeaBus saw the float plane in the water and “quickly diverted to provide assistance, ready to deploy a life raft.”
Lovgreen says the SeaBus was on scene until the vessel was released by the Canadian Coast Guard, and returned to the terminal.
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