Despite witness reports, Sunshine Coast RCMP could find no sign of a possible plane crash in West Sechelt on Jan. 22.
Around 5:30 p.m. last Friday night RCMP received a 9-1-1 call from the West Sechelt area reporting a possible plane crash.
"Witnesses of questionable reliability reported seeing a float plane fall from the sky in the area of Halfmoon Bay, Secret Cove area of the Sunshine Coast northeast of Highway 101," said RCMP E. Div. senior media relations officer Sgt. Peter Thiessen. "A Cormorant helicopter out of CFB Comox conducted an aerial search with negative results."
Thiessen said no other reports were received regarding seeing a plane crash and RCMP investigators along with our partners were unable to confirm that a plane did in fact crash.
He added that all local aircraft companies were contacted and all aircraft were accounted for Friday night and no aircraft were reported overdue or missing.
"On Saturday morning, Jan. 23 at 10 a.m., RCMP helicopter Air 5 completed a thorough search of the Halfmoon Bay area, covering the immediate residential area from Secret Cove to Trout Lake, Carlston Lake and Wormy Lake. The search was met with negative results," added Thiessen.
On Monday morning, Sunshine Coast acting detachment commander Sgt. Russ Howard said police were keeping the file open, but it appeared that no plane had gone down.
"We didn't turn up anything," said Howard. "The youths who made this report thought they saw a plane go down. We rely on the public to provide us with information. We never want to discourage anyone from calling police if they have seen something suspicious. In this case, nothing materialized."
