Blachford Lake (Jan 08/07) - A Ndilo man was killed and one injured following the crash of a Cessna 185 last week.

Alfred Tsetta, 40, of Ndilo was the only one of four people on board the Arctic Sunwest plane to survive the Jan. 3 incident.

The charter flight was headed to Blachford Lake Lodge when it went down on Jan. 3. Dead are Ndilo's Albert Doctor, 41, Jason Watt, 36, of Trenton, Ont., and Patrick Alexander (Lawton), 53, of Eckville, Alta.

Tsetta is recovering in an Edmonton hospital. Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the coroner's office were on the scene near Blachford Lake Friday.

RCMP Const. Roxanne Dreilich said Tsetta, who was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital Thursday afternoon, was transferred to an Edmonton hospital late Thursday.

"He was alert and talking," Dreilich said. "I don't believe his injuries are life threatening. He has broken bones at the most; he's pretty lucky."

On Friday, the RCMP handed over the investigation to the coroner's office and TSB.

The plane from Arctic Sunwest Charters in Yellowknife was reported missing Jan. 3 at 3:10 p.m. This was the last contact the base had with Watt - the aircraft's pilot - when he radioed to say he was making a "precautionary landing" due to bad weather and poor visibility.

Capt. Antonio Luberto with CFB Trenton Rescue Co-ordination Centre said three of the passengers aboard the downed aircraft were employees at Blachford Lake Lodge, who were flying into work.

At 10:15 a.m. Jan. 4, a Hercules aircraft from Winnipeg spotted the Cessna about 3.2 kilometres east of the lodge in bush by the lake's shoreline.

Two search and rescue technicians parachuted to the scene from the Hercules at about 11 a.m. Jan. 4 rescuing Tsetta.

NWT chief coroner Percy Kinney was at the scene Thursday for most of the day, but flew back to Yellowknife when darkness set in.

The three bodies were at the scene overnight, according to Cathy Menard, NWT deputy chief coroner. They were flown to Yellowknife on Friday.

Kinney and another coroner were back at Blachford Lake early Friday assisting a team of TSB investigators.

John Lee, regional manager for the TSB, and Wray Tsuji, senior investigator for TSB, were in charge of the investigation at Blachford Lake Friday, according to board spokesperson Bill Kemp.

In a prepared joint statement Arctic Sunwest Charters and Blackford Lake Lodge each extended their condolences to family and friends of the accident victims.

"This is a very dark day in the history of our company," said Thom Pilgrim, general manager of Arctic Sunwest Charters.

"Our staff are understandably very shaken by this incident and are working to support each other.

The release goes on to say that Watt began flying for the company in November 2006.

He was described by Larry Burkowski, Arctic Sunwest's chief pilot, as an experienced pilot with the potential to advance in his career.

Mike Freeland, owner of Blachford Lake Lodge, said the three employees of the lodge, Tsetta, Doctor and Alexander, were going to the lodge to prepare for the mid-month opening..

Doctor worked at the lodge for 16 years and was known for sharing the Dene culture with lodge guests through teaching Dene traditions and folklore.

Alexander was a guide for both Blachford Lake Lodge and Plummers Lodge on Great Bear Lake.

"Both will be sorely missed by our staff and guests. They were like family."

Premier Joe Handley also issued a release expressing his condolences to the victims. Handley is also the MLA for Weledeh, where Doctor and Tsetta are from.