1 man killed, 1 critically injured in Lacombe County plane crash in central Alberta

One man was killed and another taken to hospital in life-threatening condition after a plane crash in central Alberta late Saturday afternoon.

The crash happened in a rural area east of Lacombe. Blackfalds RCMP said officers responded to a distress beacon from an aircraft at 4:45 p.m.

A downed plane was located in a remote area of Lacombe County near the intersection of Range Road 241 and Township Road 412, where RCMP said two people were found inside a small plane.

Officers arrived to find the pilot had died, while a man who was a passenger had suffered grave injuries and had to be extracted from the wreckage.

STARS air ambulance responded to the crash involving the fixed-wing aircraft around 5:30 p.m., and transported the passenger to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton in critical condition.

The Transportation Safety Board has deployed a team of investigators to the scene.

Global News has reached out to the TSB for more information.

RCMP said Transport Canada is currently investigating the crash and the cause remains unknown.

The identities of both men are not being released at this time due to the next of kin notification process, RCMP said Sunday morning.

— More to come…