Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Fort Norman (Jan 07/02) - "Happy New Year in Tulita," she said, gave them a hug, they boarded the plane and her only two daughters flew into the gray Fort Good Hope sky. A few hours later the little Cessna 172 crashed into the side of a cliff. It was New Year's Eve.

"I'm trying to cope with it now," said Rose Andrew, mother of Lindsay, 11, and Ashley, 18. Both died in a New Year's Eve airplane crash about 50 kilometres south of Fort Good Hope which killed two other people including the pilot.

The girls were in Fort Good Hope for Christmas spending time with aunts, uncles and grand-parents. They haven't brought them back here yet," said Andrew on the phone from Tulita."It's hard."

As of press time rescue crews managed to remove the crash victims from the site. They will be sent to Edmonton for post-mortems.

"Everyone always tells me what beautiful girls I had," said Andrew who is left to grieve with her husband Frederick and adopted son, Blake, 6. "They were so outgoing. They were always helpful to everyone," said Andrew, her voice wavering between tears, silence and eulogy.

The community of Tulita is gripped with sadness as news of the tragic plane crash generated shock and disbelief.

Relatives grasp for words during interviews but find none. "I'm not ready for it yet," said Camilla Rabesca, aunt of the two girls. "They're going through a hard time right now." Tulita Chief Frank Andrew said he wasn't ready to talk about the tragedy yet.

Reasons for the crash are still foggy as investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada make the treacherous descent down the side of a cliff to inspect the craft. Some Northern aviators have said the Ursus operated plane should not have flown that day.

North-Wright Airways grounded all their small crafts that day because of freezing rain and icing.

Bea Jensen, co-owner of Ursus Aviation along with husband Blair, knew the two girls.

"I don't know what to say," said Jensen. "I'm really devastated."

"The community has been very supportive. They're all holding hands," she said.Rose Andrew said her daughter Ashley was beautiful and athletic."Her favourite things were music sports and going out ski-dooing," said Andrew.

"She was well liked in the community," said Andrew.

Lindsay was a beautiful creative little girl, said Andrew.

"She always made cards for me and her dad," said Andrew. "She really liked babies. She liked stuffed animals."

Here her voice breaks.

"I saw them on New Year's eve at 12:30 p.m. just before they boarded the plane. I hugged and kissed them and told them to have a happy New Year in Tulita."