Nine Injured in Canada Commuter Plane Crash

Nine people were rushed to hospital after a small commuter plane slammed onto a city street just outside Vancouver's International Airport.

Kelsie Carwithen, with the B.C. Ambulance Service, said five patients were taken to Vancouver General Hospital in critical condition.

She said another four patients were taken to the nearby Richmond General Hospital with injuries that are considered non-life threatening.

The plane burst into flames shortly after it crashed as it attempted to return to the airport Thursday afternoon. It landed near a street leading to the airport, snarling traffic at the peak of the city's afternoon rush home.

Officials for the airport said the plane, a Beech King Air 100, is operated by Northern Thunderbird Air.

The plane, which can carry up to nine passengers, was bound for Kelowna but turned around shortly after takeoff. An airport statement said the Vancouver Airport Authority went into emergency mode at 4:12 p.m. PT.

Steve Smith, from Richmond, was driving home from his daughter's volleyball game when he saw black smoke rising from the crash site.

"By the time I parked my car, there was a massive jam-up of cars. I saw people being tended to at the side of the road," he said.

Within moments he watched fire trucks scream into the area, along with airport authority vehicles.

Graeme Wallace, who works at the Aviation World pilot supply store, could see the wreckage from his shop.

"The plane's basically broken in half, as far as I can see," he said, looking about 50 metres out of his store's door.

According to B.C.'s Northern Thunderbird Air, the company was an amalgamation of Northern Mountain and Thunderbird in 1971.

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