VANCOUVER – Forest products firm Canfor says hired contractors on their way to conduct field survey work for the company were on board a helicopter that crashed outside Prince George, B.C., killing two and injuring four.

Emergency crews were called just before 8 a.m. Tuesday after the helicopter crashed near Purden Lake off Highway 16, with six people on board.

Canfor says in a statement issued Wednesday that the survey crew, the helicopter and its pilot were contracted for field work, but the company would not reveal the contracting firm nor the helicopter's owner.

Michelle Ward, Canfor's vice-president of corporate communications, says the company is "deeply saddened" by the crash that killed two people.

Ward says Canfor is mourning the deaths of the contracted workers, and offers condolences to the friends and family for the lives that "were heartbreakingly cut short."

Transportation Safety Board spokesman Liam MacDonald says the board's investigators were scheduled to arrive at the scene of the crash on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2023.