A pilot was injured in a helicopter crash in a forest near Parksville this afternoon.
The incident happened in Nanoose Bay at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4. The pilot was doing forestry work about five or six kilometres west of the intersection of the Island Highway and Northwest Bay Logging Road when the Bell Jet Ranger crashed, said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman.
“A mechanic who works with the helicopter pilot was on scene and managed to extricate him,” O’Brien said.
Paramedics coming from Nanaimo and Parksville were the first responders to arrive, police say, and brought the man, who suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, to the highway intersection to meet an air ambulance. The patient was transported to hospital in Victoria.
Nanoose Volunteer Fire Department also responded to the call, though the helicopter did not catch fire.
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