Pilots safe after B.C. air tanker crashes in Australia

Two pilots are safe after a large air tanker owned by a Vancouver Island company crashed while battling wildfires in western Australia.
A statement from aircraft owner Coulson Aviation, based in Port Alberni, B.C., says the converted Boeing 737 aircraft went down Monday with a two-person crew on board.
"Both pilots walked away from the accident, and have been medically assessed," CEO Wayne Coulson said in the statement on the company's website.
"Our thoughts and our immediate concern is for those team members and their families," he added. "We are very grateful the two team members on Tanker 139 are safe."
The aircraft went down around 4:15 p.m. local time while responding to a wildfire in Fitzgerald River National Park, according to a statement from Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
"The two occupants removed themselves from the aircraft," the emergency services department said.
"Both were retrieved from the crash site by helicopter and taken to Ravensthorpe Airport, where they were then transferred to a local medical facility."
Tanker 139 is one of the newest aircraft in Coulson Aviation's fleet of six "Fireliner" tankers created from modified commercial passenger jets.
On Jan. 17, the company announced Tanker 139 would be based in Sydney, New South Wales, after Coulson was awarded a two-year firefighting contract from the Australian government.
"Coulson is proud to provide our state-of-the-art aircraft to the federal Australian government," Coulson Aviation Australia CEO Britt Coulson said in a statement last month.
"This aircraft is an incredibly efficient bomber and the crews that operate each of our aircraft are second to none."
The latest crash comes three years after a Coulson air tanker crashed in Australia, killing all three American crewmembers.
The converted C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft was carrying a load of fire retardant on a bombing mission when it went down in the Snowy Manaro region of New South Wales on Jan. 23, 2020.
An investigation by the Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) found the aircraft's left wing clipped a tree before the plane hit the ground and erupted into a catastrophic fuel fire.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING | Budget 2023 prioritizes pocketbook help and clean economy, deficit projected at $40.1B
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.

BREAKING | Budget 2023 proposes across-the-board 3 per cent spending cut for government departments
The federal budget proposes an across-the-board three per cent spending cut for all departments and agencies, a belt-tightening move after years of massive growth in the federal public service.
Federal government capping excise tax on alcohol after outcry
The increase in excise duties on all alcoholic products is being temporarily capped at two per cent starting next month instead of a planned six per cent increase.
Projected cost of federal dental program set to more than double: Budget 2023
The federal budget shows the government's proposed dental-care insurance program will cost more than double what the Liberals originally thought, driving it up by another $7.3 billion over five years.
Could Canada soon standardize USB chargers? Feds looking into it, budget says
Tucked into the 2023 federal budget unveiled on Tuesday in Ottawa, the Liberals have announced plans to explore implementing a standard charging port across Canada, in an effort to save Canadians some money and reduce waste.
Ottawa commits consultation money for Indigenous resource sharing in Budget 2023
The federal Liberal government is committing $8.7 million to hold more consultations on Indigenous resource sharing, in a budget that offers relatively little new spending on its reconciliation agenda.
opinion | The gun control debate in America has been silenced
In the wake of another deadly mass shooting in America, that saw children as young as nine years old shot and killed, the gun control debate is going nowhere, writes CTV News political analyst Eric Ham.
Young children, the head of their school and its custodian. These are the victims of the Nashville school shooting
Another American community is reeling after a shooter killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville. These are the three children and three adults whose lives were taken by the shooter.
Nashville police release chilling security camera footage of suspected school shooter
Nashville police have released security camera footage of a suspected shooter entering the private Christian elementary school. The shooting claimed the lives of three children, all aged nine, and three adults.