Wreckage found off Cape Breton believed to be from missing plane
Posted Aug 16, 2010 05:36:59 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Officials with Cessna and the Transportation Safety Board will inspect two pieces of debris found off the coast of Cape Breton this weekend to confirm that they came from a plane that vanished more than a week ago.
The twin-engine plane left the Buttonville, Ont. airport Aug. 5 and disappeared from the radar as it approached Sydney airport in heavy rain and thick fog.
A search has failed to turn up any sign of the plane, or the two men aboard, since then.
But on Saturday, RCMP Cst. Meredith Darrah says a pair of sailors turned up the wreckage now under scrutiny.
“A couple, husband and wife, that were sailing just near Scatarie Island, which is about three kilometres off the eastern coast of Cape Breton, found two pieces of fuselage that we believe is from the missing Cessna,” she said.
Darrah says investigators believe the debris is from the missing Cessna, despite being found about 20 kilometres from the site of the ongoing search.
“That’s the only plane crash we have in the area,” she said. “Almost 10 days have gone by and with the currents, it’s not surprising that the debris could have travelled that distance.”
RCMP will continue the search for the missing plane, using the RCMP Coastal Watch Vessel “The Preventor,” which is equipped with a side-scan sonar, as well as a private trawler equipped with a remotely-operated vessel.
The two men on board the plane, Sydney native Dennis Forgeron and pilot Ronald David Johnston of Calgary, are both presumed dead.
