A Boeing 737-200 (C-GNWN) carrying 15 people crashed in the Canadian Arctic Saturday afternoon, killing 12 of them. The condition of the three survivors was not immediately known.
First Air Flight 6560 was enroute from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories when it crashed a few miles short of the runway at its destination in Resolute Bay, Nunavut.
According to avherald.com, there were reports of fog and rain at the time of the accident, with visibility down to about 4 nm.
Canadian forces who, in a wild coincidence, were in the area for a airplane disaster response drill, quickly arrived at the site of the crash.
First Air is an Inuit-owned airline connecting the native communities in Canada’s north with cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Operating a fleet of 25 aircraft, the Kanata, Ontario-based carrier says it transports about 225,000 passengers and over 55 million pounds of cargo annually.