West Wind Aviation ATR-42-300, performing Canada’s domestic flight from Font-du-Lac to Stony Rapids with 22 passengers and 3 crew, was in the initial climb when the aircraft lost height and impacted terrain about 1km past the runway.

All occupants survived, there are a number of serious and minor injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

All occupants have been accounted for and have been taken to hospitals.

The aircraft left radar coverage about half way into Font-du-Lac and has not re-entered radar coverage since. The Canadian TSB have dispatched investigators on site.

RCMP members found the plane less than a kilometre from the airstrip. Fond-du-Lac is a remote fly-in community of about 900 people in the northern part of the province.

“At this time the cause of the accident is unknown and the Transportation Safety Board has been advised,” Rick Philipenko, the chief financial officer of Saskatoon-based West Wind Aviation, said in a news release.

Environment Canada’s forecast for Fond-du-Lac Wednesday night called for cloudy conditions with a 30 per cent chance of flurries and a low of –19 C.