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(submitted photo/CFJC News)

Canadian Forces Snowbird jet crashes in Brocklehurst area of Kamloops

May 17, 2020 | 3:44 PM

KAMLOOPS — A Canadian Forces Snowbird jet has crashed into the Brocklehurst residential area in Kamloops. The jet had just taken off from the Kamloops airport around 11:40 am Sunday morning.

City of Kamloops officials say Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) crews arrived on scene in minutes and were joined by the Kamloops Airport “crash truck”. KFR is working with several other agencies including the RCMP, BC Ambulance, airport authorities, and Military representatives.

Video and images of the crash were distributed on multiple social media platforms. Video appears to show two people ejecting from the jet as it tumbled to the ground. However the status of the pilot and co-pilot is not known. Witnesses say a person was pulled from a roof of a home on a stretcher and placed into an ambulance. BC Health Minister Adrian Dix has confirmed at least one person was transported to hospital.

Chelsy Gyger was across the street from the crash. She says she heard the jet impacting the ground and ran outside to see the wreckage in the yard of a neighbouring house. “We went running across the street and the plane and the house was on fire,” said Gyger. Debris from the crash was thrown into a nearby house. “Oh God, it was just chaos,” she added. At least one home was burned as a result of the crash. It is not known whether anyone on the ground was injured in the crash.

Zion Chong witnessed the crash from the Kamloops Airport. Chong told CFJC Today: “The planes just lifted up and they were flying low and then they started pulling up after they gained some altitude. One plane started to turn left at a sharp angle and then started dropping (like a stunt) nose down. After dropping for a second, I saw a small explosion and saw the pilot eject then the plane just drop and exploded.”

Photos courtesy of Elmwood Delaney

( Supplied photo/Elmwood Delaney)
( Supplied photo/Elmwood Delaney)
(supplied photo/Elmwood Delaney)