EDMONTON, Alberta -- The pilot of a twin-engine light plane that crashed into an unoccupied top floor room of Edmonton's six-story Royal Alexandra Hospital died today, a hospital spokeswoman said.
A passenger in the plane was reported in stable condition under intensive care.
The Mitsubishi aircraft, on a landing approach to the municipal airport three miles away, crashed through into the mechanical room of the hospital at dinnertime Sunday, but did not catch fire.
None of the 900 patients in the hospital was injured.
Pilot William Gieg and his passenger, Ed Burton, both of Edmonton, were cut out of the wreckage more than two hours after the crash. Gieg was rushed to University Hospital with severe head and chest injuries, but later died, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Burton was undergoing treatment at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. The ages of the two men were not available.
While attempts were under way to rescue the two men from the plane, firemen hosed a heavy layer of foam over the tangled wreck and syphoned off 90 gallons of fuel from the plane.
'We've got a hell of a lot of lucky firefighters here because there was no fire,' said the fire department's senior dispatcher.
The hospital is located on the airport's main flight path.
'This was an accident waiting to happen,' said Dr. George Allin, the hospital's medical director. 'Had it hit any other area of the hospital, it would have been a real tragedy.'
The plane, owned by North American Road Ltd. and based in Edmonton, was returning from Fort McMurray, Alberta, about 200 miles northeast of the city.
John Pousette, 25, was sitting in his apartment across from the hospital when he saw the plane.
'To me, it didn't sound like the engine was running,' he said. 'Boy that plane was low. And then I heard a crunch.'
Off-duty staff members called to the scene evacuated about 120 patients from the top floor. Other patients whose rooms on lower floors were adjacent to a shaft that carried fumes from the spent fuel also were were relocated.
Weather conditions were clear in Edmonton Sunday and authorities had not determined the cause of the crash.
City alderman Ed Leger, who also sits on the hospital's board of directors, said he will ask the city council to immediately make changes in operations at the airport.
'This is an accident we all hoped would never happen,' he said. 'I think everybody in the hospital cringed every time a plane went over.
'A lot of these guys just come in without instruments.'
