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Two people dead in helicopter crash in northern New Brunswick

Sep 5, 2016 | 5:12 AM

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.

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. 

 

The Canadian Press

©2016 The Canadian Press