Plane carrying marriage proposal banner crashes in Montreal

Montreal - Canadian authorities say a small plane crashed on an island near Old Montreal, killing a passenger and injuring the pilot

A small plane crashed on an island near Old Montreal while towing a marriage proposal banner, killing a passenger and injuring the pilot, Canadian authorities said on Sunday.

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said the aircraft was pulling a banner that read “Will you marry me” when it went down on Saturday evening. The pilot remained hospitalised on Sunday night.

Police did not release details about the victims except to say that they were believed to have been the plane’s only two occupants.

Montreal police said they answered a call reporting a crash at roughly 6pm at Park Dieppe near the Concorde Bridge of Montreal’s Ile Sainte-Helene, not far from where a music festival was taking place.

“We are looking to speak to the pilot when possible,” Transportation Safety Board spokesman Chris Krepski said.

Krepski said in an interview that officials received reports of engine trouble on the Cessna 172, but investigators had yet to determine the cause of the crash.

“We haven’t ruled out anything yet,” he said. “We need to take a close look at everything.”

Krepski said the proposal banner, which was believed to have fallen into the St-Lawrence river shortly before the crash, had not been found.

• Americas