Pair were aboard single-engine plane when it went down

A man and a woman, both from out of the country, have been seriously injured in a single-engine plane crash near the 5 Wing Goose Bay airport in central Labrador.

A Joint Task Force Atlantic spokesperson says they received an emergency locator signal at 10:06 a.m. Wednesday and confirmed with the control tower there was a missing civilian aircraft.

RCMP Cpl. Jolene Garland says officers are on the scene, in the woods about five kilometres from the airport in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

In a media release issued Wednesday afternoon, the RCMP said the pair were flying in a PA-46 Malibu non-commercial aircraft.  Both were airlifted to the Labrador Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay with serious injuries.

According to the FlightAware website, which tracks flight paths, the plane left Nashua, N.H., on Tuesday morning and was supposed to arrive in Happy Valley-Goose Bay but diverted to Sept-Îles, Que.

The plane left Sept-Îles on Wednesday morning and was supposed to land in Happy Valley-Goose Bay at 10 a.m. The plan was to refuel and then continue to Nuuk, Greenland.

In air traffic control recordings, the plane was cleared to land on Runway 8 but never did. There was also no emergency call. The tower repeatedly tried to reach the plane but there was no response.

In an email, 5 Wing public affairs officer Capt. Nicole Morrison said 444 Squadron helped with “the medical transfer of passengers involved in the crash of a civilian aircraft that occurred on DND property.”

“5 Wing is responding in co-ordination with the RCMP and first responders,” she wrote.

Morrison confirmed there were two people were on board and both were airlifted by a 444 Squadron helicopter to a waiting ambulance.

Morrison later told CBC News 5 Wing has secured the crash site in anticipation of a Transportation Safety Board investigation.

The TSB confirmed to CBC News it is deploying a team of investigators to the crash.