Kingston police have confirmed that seven people are dead, including two minors, after a small aircraft crashed in Kingston.

Police were made aware of a missing airplane around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, which prompted a search of a wooded area in Kingston’s west end.

The downed plane was eventually located Wednesday evening in a wooded area north of Creekford Road and two kilometres west of Bayridge Drive.

Police originally would not release the number of deceased, but on Thursday a police source confirmed that the plane was carrying seven people, all of whom died.

Capt. Graeme Scott, public affairs officer with 8 Wing Trenton, says their Joint Rescue Coordination Centre was notified that an aircraft’s emergency beacon was activated in an area four nautical miles northwest of the Kingston airport around 6 p.m.

Scott says the Air Force deployed its 424 transport and rescue squadron in a Griffon helicopter, which arrived at the scene in Kingston just after 7 p.m.

Trained search and rescue technicians dropped down from the helicopter into the wooded area north of Creekford Road. Scott says they were then able to confirm around 8 p.m. they had found the plane that disappeared just hours before.

The coroner’s office and investigators with the Transportation Safety Board — who both refused to comment any further about the crash at this time — were brought in to assess the crash site, and the investigation is still ongoing.

The plane, which the Transportation Safety Board says was a Piper PA-32R registered in the United States, was travelling from Buttonville Airport.

More info to come…