Canadian acrobatic jet crashes in B.C. amid pandemic show; 1 dead

A Canadian acrobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood Sunday during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show the plane's crew ejecting. The crash left debris scattered across the neighborhood near the airport in the city of Kamloops, 260 miles (418 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver. Canada's defense department said emergency crews were responding. The Snowbirds are Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds or U.S. Navy's Blue Angels. "It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one member of the CF Snowbirds team has died and one has sustained serious injuries," The Royal Canadian Air Force said in a tweet. The air force said the surviving member does not have life-threatening injuries. Rose Miller lives directly across the street from where the plane hit. She'd watched the Snowbirds arrive on Saturday, and she went to her front window on Sunday when she heard the roar of jet engines. Miller said she heard a loud bang and wondered whether it might be a sonic boom. Then she watched the plane smash onto the ground. "It looked to me like it was mostly on the road, but it just exploded. It went everywhere," she said. "In fact, I got a big, huge piece in my backyard. The cops said it was the ejection seat." Miller said a couple in their early 70s lives in the home. Both are OK, she said, noting that she'd spoken with them after they were evacuated to a nearby street. The woman had been in the basement while the man was behind the house. Miller said section of roof on a home on a nearby street has been covered up. Video posted to Twitter by 6:10 a.m. in Kamloops appears to show two Snowbirds taking off from what is believed to have been Kamloops Airport. One of the aircraft subsequently climbed into the sky before rolling over and plunging to the ground. The video appears to show at least one person ejecting from the plane before it disappears behind a stand of trees and an explosion is heard. "This accident really shakes us to our core," Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian said. About five houses had to be evacuated. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the cause of the crash is under investigation. "Our number one priority at this time is determining the status of our personnel, the community and supporting emergency personnel. When appropriate, more information will be made available," the Department of National Defense said in a statement. Kenny Hinds, who lives in a house seven doors down from the crash site, said it looked like the living room of the house where the crash occurred was on fire.

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