4 missing after medical helicopter crashes in Quebec lake

By Rylee Kirk

Emergency responders over the weekend were searching for four people who were missing after a medical helicopter crashed into a lake in rural Quebec, Canada, on Friday night, authorities said.

Five people were on board, four crew members and one patient, said Raphaele Bourgault, a manager for Airmedic, a company that operates the medical helicopter.

One person was found with injuries that were not life-threatening and taken to a hospital, said Sgt. Laurie Avoine, a spokesperson for the Quebec provincial police. It was not clear if the person was among the members of the crew.

The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. in a wooded area north of Natashquan, Quebec, Avoine said. The Canadian Armed Forces have been asked to help the provincial police, she said.

Teams are searching on the ground, in the water and by air for those missing, Avoine said.

The helicopter crashed shortly after takeoff, said Nicholas Defalco, a spokesperson for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The destination and departure sites of the flight were not immediately known.

Airmedic, which has seven planes and six helicopters, said on its website that it was temporarily suspending its air operations until further notice.

Natashquan, which is on the north shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and 625 miles northeast of Quebec City, is described by Bonjour Quebec, the province’s tourism group, as “really at the edge of the world.”

The village of 300 is the childhood home of Québécois singer-songwriter and poet Gilles Vigneault.

The area is part of the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, which has fewer than 100,000 people. Tourists visit the area for whale watching and to enjoy the forest.