Preliminary information about a missing Merritt man indicates his plane may have failed to properly take off.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said information suggests the small plane ran off at the end of the runway early Monday morning.
According to Merritt RCMP, police received a missing person report just after midnight.
An officer then attended the Merritt Airport and located the missing man in a plane wreckage on the tarmac.
RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Jesse O’Donaghey said the man’s family filed the missing person report.
“The family member was concerned because he was overdue,” O’Donaghey said.
“When we arrived at the airport, that was when we found the man trapped inside his plane.”
Emergency crews extricated the pilot, who is in his 60s, and rushed him to the hospital with serious injuries. His current condition is unknown.
The RCMP and the TSB are working together to investigate the incident, though the TSB has no plans to deploy to Merritt at this time.
If you saw the incident, you are asked to contact the Merritt RCMP at 250-378-4262.
READ MORE: RCMP find missing man in Merritt plane wreck
