Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Fort Good Hope (Jan 14/02) - Three victims of last month's Sahtu plane crash survived the impact, according to Northwest Territories chief coroner Percy Kinney.

Autopsy reports from Edmonton were released Thursday.

Hay River musician Kole Crook, sitting beside pilot Dana Wentzel, died instantly. The pilot and sisters Ashley and Lindsay Andrew, the two passengers sitting in the rear, suffered a variety of injuries, but died of hypothermia -- exposure to the cold.

Kinney said it would be "hard to say whether they would have survived their injuries" had rescue crews been able to reach them.

"They all had a lot of broken bones, cuts and scrapes and bangs," he added.

The Ursus Aviation Cessna 172 was en route to Tulita from Fort Good Hope on New Year's Eve when it crashed into a cliff 50 kilometres south of Fort Good Hope in the Sans Sault River valley.

Search and rescue crews frantically raced to the crash site on snowmobiles, guided by the plane's emergency location transmitter.

It took rescuers 40 hours to locate the crash site. The plane was resting upside down. All the passengers were still in their seats.

Kinney said, "There was no evidence" any of the surviving passengers regained consciousness.

Other pilots flying in the area said they warned Wentzel he would be flying into icy conditions.

Ray Tsuji, an investigator with the Transportation Safety Board in Edmonton, said he and other investigators now have a good idea of the weather in the area at the time.

Tsuji added that the weather around the crash site "was not as good as the weather at the departure point."

The river valley is known to fill with fog in cold, humid conditions.

One thing investigators may never know is what flight path Wentzel took.

Wentzel was under no requirement to file a flight plan, according to Tsuji.

Kinney said last week it was too early to know" whether a coroner's inquest will be called. He is awaiting a Transportation Safety Board report.

That investigation is expected to take three months. Tsuji said a final report will take "up to a year" to complete.