Rescue crews are actively trying to find a helicopter that went missing east of Revelstoke, B.C., in Glacier National Park on Saturday.
An RCMP spokesperson told CBC News they received a report of a missing helicopter shortly before 7 p.m. PT Friday, and crews on the ground were still searching for the chopper around 1:30 p.m. PT Saturday.
Capt. Pedram Mohyeddin, a spokesperson for Maritime Forces Pacific, said the forces had received word of an overdue private helicopter at around 8:40 p.m. PT in the Revelstoke area.
Revelstoke is a resort community in the Columbia-Shuswap Regional District, located 400 kilometres northeast of Vancouver and 289 kilometres west of Calgary.
“Shortly after, the Canadian Mission Control Centre received a ping from an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) approximately 10 nautical miles [18.5 kilometres] east of Revelstoke,” the spokesperson said.
While search-and-rescue and military aircraft were charged with finding the missing helicopter, Mohyeddin told CBC News that low visibility in the area was preventing them from operating.
“Currently ground search-and-rescue, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association are searching the vicinity of that ELT signal by ground,” he said Saturday afternoon.
Mohyeddin did not confirm how many people were on board the missing helicopter, nor where it was headed. He said crews would be able to confirm its origin and destination once it was located.
The spokesperson added that crews were searching in the vicinity of Highway 1 for the helicopter.