A 16-year-old boy has died after he was struck by a plane that crashed on Lake Scugog Friday afternoon.
Durham Regional Police Service officers said the unidentified teen was standing on the dock of a property on Williams Point Road in Caesarea just before 12:30 p.m. when he was struck by the plane.
Investigators said two adults onboard the Ultravia Pelican Sport 600, an amateur-built aircraft with amphibious floats that is capable of landing on both water and land, survived the crash. The pilot was taken to a hospital to be treated for minor injuries and the passenger was treated for minor injuries at the scene.
Photos from the scene showed the mangled yellow plane upside down, resting on a white boat that was tied to a dock.
Insp. Gill Lock told reporters that officers are continuing to investigate the circumstances leading up to the crash, but added it does not appear that alcohol was a factor. She said the pilot was cooperating with investigators.
“Our thoughts remain with the male’s family as well as those impacted by the tragedy,” Lock said Friday evening..
“We are doing everything we can to investigate this horrific crash.”
It wasn’t disclosed where the plane was coming from and what its final destination was.
The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada, a federal government agency charged with conducting independent investigations into certain incidents, attended the scene Friday afternoon.
“The TSB’s … primary role is determining what happened, why it happened and how we can prevent it from happening again,” Peter Rowntree, a senior regional investigator with the TSB, told reporters.
“It’s not the TSB’s responsibility to assign blame or determine criminal or civil litigation – we are here for safety purposes only.”
He said incidents involving these types of aircraft present additional challenges.
“It can be a tricky, tricky landing on water and we have to look at what our witnesses have to say. We need to talk to the pilot and see what he has to say about what happened with this accident today,” Rowntree explained.
“We need to look at the wreckage and see if there were any anomalies to be found with the actual wreckage, document the site, and look for any perishable information that might glean some more information on what happened today.”
In 2024, the TSB issued a warning to float-plane pilots to be mindful of landing-site hazards.
As for what comes next, Rowntree said investigators are looking to bring the aircraft onto land sometime on Saturday. He said they’ll go through the systems, instruments and do further documentation. Rowntree said engineers and human-factor specialists can be brought in to assist if needed.
“I think it’s difficult for anybody attending a scene like this. It’s a traumatic event,” he said.
“It’s traumatizing to those who witnessed it. It’s traumatizing to all those who are involved in the investigation itself, the accident itself.”
Lock said officers will look to reduce the size of the scene blocked off, working in conjunction with the TSB. Several cottages were surrounded by yellow police tape as officers and forensics investigators gathered evidence. Investigators said they’re looking to speak with any witnesses in the area who haven’t come forward as of Friday evening.
She noted Victim Services of Durham Region is available for anyone struggling to process what happened. Click here for contact information.
With files from Michael Talbot