Helicopter landed upside down, loggers say

A helicopter in which four Saultites died on Tuesday landed upside down in the forest, say loggers who extracted the four from the downed chopper.

"It was on its top, upside down," said Chris Pilon. All appeared to be dead when the loggers arrived within minutes of the crash, Pilon said.

The chopper's final resting place was a short distance from a road, a railroad track and a logging camp where some workers witnessed the crash, leading some emergency workers to speculate that Mike Maguire, the MNR's chief helicopter pilot, may have tried to bring the craft down where help would be easily accessible.

"We had to use chains and come-alongs to lift the helicopter off them," Pilon said. "You couldn't tell how many people were in there."

"We had to cut them out of their seat belts."

The deceased were identified on Wednesday as Michael Maguire, 50, chief helicopter pilot; Walter Ceolin, 52, conservation officer; Bruce Stubbs, 39; and Chantelle Walkey, 27, both resource technicians.

All were based in Sault Ste. Marie.

As Transportation Safety Board investigators worked around the crash site, a railway crossing known as Mekatina, life went on in the tiny community.

Photos of everyday activities

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