Family have confirmed to media that former Powell River - Sunshine Coast MLA Harold Long was killed in a float-plane crash Tuesday just off Stuart Island, north of Quadra island in the Strait of Georgia.
An air controller with the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria said a person walking along the beach about 5:15 p.m. and saw a Beaver aircraft upside down in the water, about seven metres offshore.
Search and rescue technicians were flown to the area and a body was found inside the aircraft.
The controller said nobody had reported hearing or seeing anything related to the crash before the wreckage was spotted.
Long first served as an MLA from 1986 to 1991. He was elected again in the 2001 provincial general election as a B.C. Liberal. He was 72.
More to come.
