A day after a helicopter crash on Montreal’s South Shore killed four people, their identities were revealed by family members and friends paying their tributes on social media Sunday.
According to the provincial police agency Sûreté du Québec (SQ), the incident happened Saturday around 2:30 p.m. in the Sainte-Brigide-d’Iberville municipality, in the Montérégie, about 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal.
The three passengers were identified by Océane Perreault as her husband Gabriel Jasmin, mother Chantal Raymond and brother Loucas Perreault who were on a helicopter ride to celebrate Raymond’s birthday when the chopper tragically crashed and caught fire.
“On Sept. 26, a part of my world flew away to heaven,” Perreault wrote on Facebook.
“I don’t have the words to describe the pain, the shock, and the emptiness I feel. Three people I love more than anything were taken from me far too soon, right before my eyes.”
Jasmin was a host of a show at a Sherbrooke-based radio station 106.1 Énergie. He has a daughter with Perreault.
The pilot of the plane Suzanne Jutras, 50, was identified as the fourth victim in a tribute on Facebook by Syndicat UPA Haut-Richelieu, a regional farmers’ union. Jutras’ husband Yves Boulais, a field crop farmer and a former dairy farmer in the region, the syndicat said.
“During this difficult time, the board of directors of the Haut-Richelieu UPA, along with the entire farming community, would like to offer their most sincere condolences to Yves, their family, their loved ones, and everyone affected by this tragedy,” the union wrote.
An investigation by SQ’s Major Crimes Unit is underway. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board were also on site Saturday.