Authorities in Quebec said that all six people on board a sightseeing seaplane were killed when the aircraft crashed on the province's North Shore Sunday afternoon.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada spokesperson Julie Leroux told the Canadian Press that five passengers and one pilot were on board the plane.
Sky News reported that the British Foreign Office was looking into reports that four British nationals were among the dead. CBC News identified two of the deceased as pilot Romain Desrosiers and passenger Emilie Delaitre, a 28-year-old tourist from France.
Air Saguenay vice-president Jean Tremblay told the Canadian Press the Beaver seaplane was taking part in a routine sightseeing flight departing from Lac Long in Tadoussac, located 93 miles northeast of Quebec City. Tremblay said the flight was only supposed to last 20 minutes, and described Sunday's flying conditions as "perfect," with little wind and clear visibility.
Desrosiers had more than 6,000 hours of flight experience, all with Air Saguenay, where he'd worked for the past 14 years. The airline primarily provides charters for hunting, fishing, and mining expeditions.
The plane went down in the middle of a forest about four miles north of the village of Les Bergeronnes, Quebec, approximately 440 miles north of Montreal. The area is not accessible by road.
Air investigator Pierre Gavillet told CBC that the plane crash "vertically, between the trees," adding that there was also a post-crash fire in the cabin area.