All Ten On Board Killed

US and Canadian search teams converged on Lake Erie Sunday after a Cessna 208 (file photo of type, below) crashed through the ice, apparently killing all 10 people on board.

"Unfortunately, this has changed from a rescue mission to a recovery mission," said Constable Brian Knowles of the Ontario Provincial Police in Kingsville Sunday.

Eight men returning home from a hunting trip, the pilot and his female friend late Saturday afternoon when the Caravan went down into the lake. Snow was falling at the time. The wreckage was spotted nose-down in the water and ice about a mile west of Pelee Island. That's some 20 miles north of Sandusky (OH).

The Coast Guard says the pilot radioed a "frantic" call for help shortly after taking off from Pelee. The flight was headed for Windsor (ON).

"The weather became a very big factor in our efforts," said Capt. Dave Elit from the Canadian Search And Rescue Coordination Center in Trenton. The US Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bay cruised to the crash location, where it stayed after snow flurries and low ceilings and ice forced helicopters involved in the search to abandon the site.

Paul Mulrooney, president of Georgian Express, which owns the Caravan, brushed aside speculation that the low clouds, freezing drizzle and snow caused the plane to go down. "It's very capable of flying in this weather," he said. "The weather was poor down there, but from what we know, it is flyable type of weather."

Mulrooney, speaking from the company's headquarters in Mississauga (ON), said Georgian Express flies between Pelee Island and Windsor three times a day -- in all kinds of weather. But another pilot who had already made six trips between Pelee and northern Ohio said he decided to knock off before 5:00 pm because conditions were unsafe.

"It's nasty," he said. "It's freezing drizzle, kind of bad."

Canadian investigators arrived at the scene Sunday to take charge of the investigation.

FMI: www.tc.gc.ca/CivilAviation/menu.htm