A woman aboard a plane that crashed in Richmond, B.C., discussess the events that occurred that day.
Passanger Loralie discusses the event in a telephone interview with CBC News, stating:
“It looked like a leak of some kind, like an oil leak or some kind of leak,I pointed it out and said, ‘Oh, that doesn’t look good. What’s that?’ and my husband pointed it out to the pilot and … the pilot said, ‘Oh, that’s no worry. That’s just the A-pack,’ or something that’s leaking.”
About 15 minutes into the chartered flight to Kelowna, B.C., the pilot informed passengers they were turning back to Vancouver because of an oil leak in the left engine. He said it wasn’t a big concern, said Sobolik, but “his hands were shaking uncontrollably and in his eyes … I knew he was terrified.”
The plane was a bit shaky, she said, but the runway could be seen in the distance.
“And then just all of a sudden we just veered, we totally missed it [the runway] and we were suddenly on a road, and you could see traffic lights,And everyone was screaming and you just knew — we’re crashing. ”
Sobolik lost consciousness on impact.The emergency door handle was broken, Sobolik said, so her husband, Cameron, had to pull her to the back of the plane. “He had a broken back. He had completely shattered vertebrae and his spine was damaged … but he wouldn’t go. People were calling him to the back, and he said, ‘Not without my wife’ … If he didn’t get me, I would have perished for sure. I would have caught into flames.”
Earlier Monday, Vancouver Coastal Health said six people remained in hospital following the crash. Officials said one person was in intensive care, three others were in serious but stable condition and two people were in stable condition and may be released from the hospital later this week. Two other passengers were discharged from the hospital last week. Fortin, 44, was pulled from the fiery wreckage but died several hours later in hospital.
