Two people dead in helicopter crash in northern New Brunswick
Posted Sep 5, 2016 07:59:03 AM.
Last Updated Sep 5, 2016 10:47:40 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CAMPBELLTON, N.B. – The co-owner of the Capitales de Quebec baseball team was one of two people killed in a helicopter crash in northern New Brunswick Sunday afternoon.
The team’s Facebook page says Roberto Bissonnette, 35, and the chopper pilot, Frederick Decoste, both died in the crash.
The Facebook post adds that team president, Michel Laplant, was also on board and suffered non life-threatening injuries.
TRANSLATION: “The Capitales of Quebec have regret to announce the death of their co-owner Roberto Bissonnette and the pilot Frédérick Decoste after a helicopter crash in New Brunswick on Sunday at the end of the afternoon.
The President of the team Michel Laplante was also aboard the helicopter at the time of the crash. He is suffering from wounds that do not, however, put his life in danger.
The entire organization of the Capitales offer it’s sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims. For their respect, it is the only comments that will be issued for the moment.”
RCMP said the helicopter got tangled in some powerlines in the community of Flatlands, west of Campbellton along the Restigouche River.
They said the aircraft then hit an embankment and eventually ended up in the water.
Police confirmed there were three people aboard, and that two were killed and the third injured, but they didn’t release any names.
There were no immediate details on the helicopter or who owned it.
The crash resulted in electricity being cut to some 14,000 customers in the area, but New Brunswick Power said that all had been reconnected by early Sunday evening.
The Transportation Safety Board has been called in to investigate the cause of the crash.
The Quebec City based Capitales de Quebec are members of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, known as the Can-Am League, which has teams in Eastern Canada and the northeastern United States.
Prior to his association with Capitales, Bissonnette played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 1998 to 2002, and he was also a popular singer in Quebec.
