Canadian plane crashes while fighting Australian bushfires

A Canadian plane that was being used by an Australian firefighting service crashed in Western Australia on Monday.

The two pilots on board thankfully walked away from the crash, the Vancouver Island company that owns the 737 FireLiner said in a Facebook post. They were the only occupants.

“We’re very grateful the two team members… are safe. Our thoughts and our immediate concerns are for those team members and their families,” Coulson Aviation said.

You might also like:
• "It's a mess here": YVR passenger stuck in plane for 11 hours on tarmac
• An estimated 480 million animals have died in Australia's bush fires
• BC records one of the lowest human-caused wildfire seasons in 70+ years

The Port-Alberni-based company creates specialized firefighting aircraft that are used around the world. Last month, it announced the converted Boeing 737 that went down, Tanker 139, had won the contract for Australia’s National Large Air Tanker. It had the ability to drop 4,000 gallons of water or flame retardants from the air.

The plane was based in Sydney but deployed to areas of the country that needed help with firefighting. It had been named Phoenix by students in an Australian naming competition.