NELSON, B.C. – The Nelson RCMP and Nelson Search and Rescue located the pilot from the downed plane, deceased at approximately 8:30 p.m. this evening, after earlier contact with the pilot via cell phone.

On Monday January 18, 2010 at 3:45 pm, a report was received of a small airplane crash approximately 5 miles south of Nelson BC. RCMP and area Fire Rescue responded. The general area where the plane crashed was determined to be the Marsden Road area in the vicinity of Highway 3A, in dense bush and steep terrain.

The pilot and sole occupant of the plane is believed to have contacted someone on his cell phone to originally report the incident. The Nelson RCMP made contact via cell phone with the pilot who stated that he had suffered a broken leg and other injuries. The pilot was not able to relay his location coordinates to police or searchers.

The Joint Rescue Coordination Center and Search and Rescue were quickly activated. Ground and air searches were promptly conducted with air searches hampered by poor visibility due to cloud cover. The ground search efforts continued well into darkness, with searchers holding hope of locating the individual that evening.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. searchers located the unresponsive pilot with CPR performed, however rescuers were unable to revive the man. The small plane is believed to be an older model Cessna aircraft.

Deceased is a 57 year old male from Trail BC. The identity of the man is being withheld until completion of notification of next of kin. The investigation is ongoing into the cause of death of the man in addition to the causal factors of the crash.