Two of the three people who died in Monday’s helicopter crash near Terrace have been identified as scions of well-known families in Italy’s northeast region.
Seven people — five tourists, a pilot and a guide — were aboard the Northern Escape Heli Skiing helicopter when it went down in the Skeena mountains, about 50 kilometres northwest of Terrace, around 4 p.m. Monday.
Three of the people were killed and four injured. Of the four injured, two are in critical condition and two are in serious condition
Italian media reports that the passengers are prominent businessmen in the South Tyrol province.
One of the people killed was Heiner Junior (Heinzl) Oberrauch, the 29-year-old son of the founder of Italian sporting goods chain Sportler. His older brother and Sportler CEO Jakob Oberrauch, 34, was injured and is said to be in hospital and conscious, according to Italy’s news agency ANSA.
Sportler, which was founded in 1977, is one of Northern Italy’s largest sports retailers, with 26 stores in Italy and Austria.
Also killed was Andreas Widmann, 35, whose family owns TEXmarket, a textile company founded in 1987 that specializes in cycling apparel.
The deaths were confirmed by the Oberrauch and Widmann families to Italian media. Sportler founder Georg Oberrauch is reportedly en route to Canada.
Among the injured are Johannes Peer, 34, also an executive with Sportler, and Emilio Zierock, 35, a fourth-generation winemaker who helps run his family’s Foradori Winery.
The third fatality and the fourth individual injured have yet to be identified.
Heinzl appears to have skied in Canada before. A video posted in 2012 on Sportler’s Facebook page titled Deep Canada shows him skiing down a mountain.
Cottontex, a Romanian-based company under the TEXmarket brand, announced Widmann’s death in a Facebook post Tuesday.
“With heavy hearts and deep sadness we share with you the devastating news of the death of our manager and leader, Andreas Widmann,” read the translated post.
John Forrest, president of the Terrace-based heli-skiing company, confirmed Monday that three people died in the crash.
“It is impossible to put into words the profound grief that we feel and the sorrow that our guests and our staff share,” he said.
Skyline Helicopters, the company that provided the helicopter being used by Northern Escape, released a statement expressing their condolences for the loss of life.
“Our staff and clients are an integral part of our extended family,” said Teri Northcott, president of Skyline. “Words cannot convey the profound grief we feel. We ask for respect for the privacy of those impacted during this incredibly challenging time.”
“With that in mind, we will await any updates from the RCMP on those involved. We appreciate the swift response from external agencies, first responders, Northern Escape Heli-Skiing and our team following the accident yesterday.”
The bodies of the three victims who died remain on the mountain and a search team is working with police and the B.C. Coroners Service to retrieve them, Terrace Search and Rescue manager Dave Jephson said Tuesday.
According to Forrest, it was a guest involved in the helicopter crash who sent a radio message to the company advising what had happened.
“All the scheduled communications were happening according to our protocols. During the time between scheduled calls, we received radio communications from a guest involved in the helicopter accident that the incident had occurred,” he said.
“We activated our rescue protocols, including immediately ceasing all skiing activities and activating search and rescue. Our two other helicopters in the area immediately joined the rescue efforts along with our team of guides. Our helicopters assisted in bringing injured individuals back to Terrace.”
Jephson said crews were standing by Tuesday afternoon to return to the crash site but that freezing rain prevented flights from the local airport.
“Everybody in the community knows everybody. Everybody in the community supports everybody,” Jephson said. “We were just on a search-rescue practice last night and three people in the truck that I was driving in either knew somebody from (Northern Escape), knew somebody from the hospital or knew somebody who was involved.
“You know, that just shows you the type of community that we are in Terrace.”
Antonio Tajani, the Italian minister of foreign affairs, confirmed a number of Italian citizens had been involved in the crash in a post on X Tuesday.
“I join in the pain of the families who lost their loved ones in the terrible helicopter crash in Canada. I have instructed our consulate @italyinvan to provide maximum assistance to the injured compatriots. I sincerely wish them a speedy recovery,” read a translated post.
The Italians were part of a larger group on a heli-skiing excursion.
Police say two other helicopters on the backcountry ski trip lost contact with the downed aircraft on Monday afternoon before spotting the crash site.
Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas says on social media that the four injured people were in critical condition when they arrived at the city’s Mills Memorial Hospital, which declared a mass-casualty Code Orange event over the crash.
HeliCat Canada, an industry association of helicopter and snowcat skiing firms, says the risk in the activities doesn’t “decrease our sadness.”
It says in a statement that eliminating all risk is “impossible,” but the “industry does its best to mitigate” it with knowledge and expertise. “Although these fatalities are rare, it breaks our heart to have them occur.
“An accident like this is a tragic loss that impacts everyone, including the operators, guests, communities and our entire industry,” HeliCat Canada’s statement said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
— With files from The Canadian Press
