Canadian politician Jean Lapierre and six others have been killed on the Magdalen Islands off the coast of Quebec after their small plane went down while traveling to a funeral, officials say. There are no survivors.
The accident happened just after noon local time on Tuesday when a small aircraft crashed in a field on Havre aux Maisons island just north of Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport. Photos from the crash site showed that the aircraft had been badly damaged.
Quebec Police confirmed that seven people were on board the plane but there were no survivors. One person who had initially been rushed to a local hospital in an extremely critical condition later passed away while being transported to a Quebec City hospital.
Lapierre, who was 59, as well as members of his family were killed in the crash. The Liberal Party politician served as Minister of Transport between 2004 and 2006 but retired from parliament in 2007, after which he became well-known as a political commentator for multiple media outlets.
The deadly crash came less than 24 hours after Lapierre announced that his father, Raymond Lapierre, had passed away at the age of 83 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Lapierre and members of his family were heading to the islands for his funeral.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) said the Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 aircraft crashed on approach to Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport after a flight from the city of Longueuil. It happened while snow, winds and fog hit the area, though the cause of the crash was not immediately known.
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