Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 06/03) - A Buffalo Airways DC-4 crashed as it tried to land at a mine site in Nunavut Saturday.

The pilots escaped injury, but the plane was a "write off," according to mine officials.

The DC-4 was delivering fuel to the Ulu mine site, about 550 km. northeast of Yellowknife, when it landed short of the runway. The Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Ewan Downey, whose company Wolfden Resources contracted Buffalo to deliver the fuel, said weather was not a factor in the crash.

"That was not a problem," he said. "It just came up short of the runway."

Downey said workers were able to recover most of the fuel, which was destined for Wolfden's High Lake property.

This was the second Buffalo Airways transport plane to crash within the last year.

In September of 2002, another DC-4 undershot a runway at the Diavik diamond mine, smashing into a berm and shearing off its right wing in the process.

Buffalo Airways refused to comment on the incident.