Searchers seek missing Canadian plane

CAT LAKE, Ontario, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Canadian searchers Monday were looking for a small plane that disappeared in northwestern Ontario.

The Transportation Safety Board in Winnipeg said three people were aboard the Lockhart Air Service charter, which was traveling Friday from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, to the Cat Lake First Nation when it disappeared, the Winnipeg Free Press reported.

Canadian Forces air search and rescue was reportedly involved in a massive water and ground search for the aircraft.

"We've been searching for two days, all day," Romeo Wesley, a member of Cat Lake First Nation, told the newspaper, saying he and 30 other Cat Lake and nearby Deer Lake residents were searching on the ground. Wesley indicated tribal members had fanned out on the ground and over the lake.

"At about 9:30 (Friday) we had a bingo starting here and kids were playing outside," Wesley told the Free Press. "They said the plane went by to attempt a landing, then swooped up again. There must have been a problem. Then (the pilot) made a circle and wanted to make another approach. ... The kids saw a big fireball and they heard the impact."