VICTORIA -- Two people have died after a small plane went down in the mountains northeast of Vancouver.
A Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter found the Cessna 182 in mountainous terrain about 31 kilometres northeast of Hope, B.C., on Friday afternoon, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria said in a news release.
Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Roxanne Daouft said RCMP have confirmed that both people on board were found dead.
Their identities have not been released.
Officials with the rescue centre previously said the Cessna 182 left Calgary at about 10 a.m. Thursday, headed for Nanaimo via Kelowna, Hope and Boundary Bay, B.C.
Rescuers said an electronic locator transmitter was activated about 165 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, about an hour after the plane took off.
Low-lying clouds and rain on Friday morning made searching for the aircraft difficult.
Investigators with the safety board will be sent to the scene when conditions are no longer dangerous, which could be on Saturday or Sunday, Daouft said.
The rescue centre said the case has been turned over to the RCMP and the BC Coroners Service.
"The thoughts of JRCC are with the relatives of the two people who were on the plane," the centre said in a statement.
