FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Mounties are still searching for the body of one of two men killed when two planes collided mid-air in northeastern Alberta.
Wood Buffalo RCMP Cpl. George Cameron says a search team has recovered the body of a 33-year-old Edmonton man, but not that of a 32-year-old man from Fort McMurray.
Police are not releasing the men's names.
The pair were in a Cessna 172 that collided mid-air with a Cessna 185 on Sunday night east of Fort McMurray.
The Cessna 185 landed safely and the lone pilot was uninjured.
McMurray Aviation posted a news release to its Facebook page identifying the dead as flight instructor Nabeel Chaudhry and student Amjed Ahmed.
The company says both aircraft were allowed to be in the same air space but further details won't be released until the Transportation Safety Board concludes its investigation.
John Cottreau, spokesman for the TSB, says investigators have determined the crash was unsurvivable.
"From what I heard from our investigators, the aircraft is completely destroyed," he said Wednesday from Hull, Quebec.
"The Cessna 172 left the Fort McMurray airport destined for the northeast practice area, an area of airspace for practising flying." Cottreau said.
"The Cessna 175 originated from a lake in northwestern Saskatchewan and was bound for the Fort McMurray airport."
Cottreau says it's too early to say how and why the collision happened.
The debris field is about one square kilometre, Cameron said.
"The wreckage is scattered in that square kilometre area, but the searchers won't just be focusing on that square kilometre, they will be going outside the area as well."
Cameron says the site is very isolated and difficult to get to.
"We can get there with our all-terrain vehicles, our 4x4s to a certain point and then they hike in" about three to four kilometres to reach the debris field, Cameron said.
Anyone with information about the crash, or any witnesses, are asked to call police.
