Texas pilot, his wife and their kids aged three, 11 and 15 killed with their newlywed friends in Canada plane crash
A TEXAS pilot and his family have been killed along with their newlywed friends in a plane crash in Canada this week, it has been reported.
Otabek Oblokulov along with his wife and kids - aged 3, 11 and 15 - were killed when their Piper PA-32 went down in the city of Kingston, Ontario, on Wednesday evening, their friends told CBC News.
A newlywed couple, Bobomurod Nabiev and his wife, who live in the Toronto area but are originally from Uzbekistan, also died on board, according to the report.
There is “no indication” of any survivors, Kingston Police Constable Ash Gutheinz said Thursday.
The small aircraft was headed to Quebec City from Buttonville Municipal Airport in Markham, Ontario, the outlet reported.
But at some point, it changed course to Kingston and crashed a few miles north of the city’s airport around 5pm, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board confirmed.
The plane appeared to have come down on a steep incline, TSB investigator Ken Webster said yesterday.
According to CBC, the aircraft was registered in the US while Oblokulov and his family all lived in Houston, Texas.
FAMILY KILLED
The plane only had six seats despite there being seven people killed in the crash, it has been reported.
Authorities will probe factors including weather, maintenance, pilot training and communications with air traffic control, Canadian TSB spokesperson Chris Krepski said.
Environment Canada had warned of winds gusting up to nearly 50 mph that night.
While the conditions weren’t as severe as expected, the weather was certainly “blustery,” Gutheinz said.
Roads in the area were blocked off by police as rescue crews, including helicopters, searched for the wreckage on Wednesday evening.
Anson Air, a Sugar Land, Texas-based aviation school, had just congratulated Oblokulov on his first aircraft in March.
“Congratulations to Otabek Oblokulov on his first airplane, this beautiful Cherokee 6 260 we helped him acquire!” the school posted to Facebook, along with a photo of the pilot smiling widely with the plane.
College professor Mehmet Basti, a friend of Oblokulov, told CTV News that he was expecting to meet everyone on-board in Kingston.
He said the passengers planned to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Quebec.
Mr Basti added: "We're waiting for the call when they landed. We couldn't reach them.
"We are in shock. We’re just trying to understand the situation."
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