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British tourists among dead in Quebec plane crash

The Hewitt family – Fiona, 52, Richard, 50, Felicity, 17, and Harry, 14 – were among five passengers who died along with the pilot, the Quebec coroner has confirmed.

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Experts say the impact was so severe that “nobody could have survived”.

The Foreign Office said the crash was a “tragic incident”.

“They were a lovely family, and we’ve seen their babies growing up as they did ours”, said Graham Knight, 43.

“It’s very sad and shocking”.

The pilot has been named as Romain Desrosiers and the fifth passenger was 28-year-old Emilie Delaitre, from France.

The remote location of the crash meant rescue teams took 24 hours to reach the scene, with troops from the Canadian Armed Forces parachuting in to look for survivors.

The Quebec coroner will now continue his investigation and issue findings in the coming months.

According to the Journal of Quebec, the British family were due to leave Tadoussac two days ago, following on from a three-night stay.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond offered his condolences to relatives of the crash victims.

“Our deepest sympathies are with their friends and family at this hard time”.

‘Our High Commission in Ottawa is in close contact with the Canadian authorities and we are providing consular assistance to the relatives of those who were killed’.

A picture on the Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s website shows the wreckage of the red and white aircraft on a rock edge next to thick woodland.

Recovery efforts have been hindered by heavy rain and cloud in the densely wooded area where the plane crashed, but all of the victims’ bodies have now been retrieved.

The plane had taken off from the small town of Tadoussac on the Saint Lawrence River, a popular tourist destination for whale watching. “There was a fire in the cabin area”.

Air Saguenay vice-president Jean Tremblay additionally stated the pilot of the plane had greater than 6,000 hours of flying expertise, all of them with Air Saguenay, the place he had labored for 14 years.

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According to reports, Air Saguenay upgraded its security system in 2010 after the same kind of seaplane, a De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, crashed into a mountain in bad weather killing four of the six people on board.

The wreckage of the plane in Canada