The Montreal Canadiens' Paul Byron Helped Rescue A Pilot Who Crashed His Plane Into A Lake
The hockey player was on a fishing trip when the accident happened nearby.
Paul Byron.
Habs forward Paul Byron was out fishing on a lake in Notre-Dame-du-Laus, just under three hours north of Montreal, when a small plane came crashing down out of the sky near his boat on Saturday. Turns out, the compact hockey player may be just as fast in the water as on the ice.
"A very quiet morning fishing with Jean Leblond, Paul Byron [and] Jonathan Legault turned into the rescue of a man who crashed his plane a few feet from us," read a social media post by Byron's brother-in-law, Neal Leblond, who goes on to confirm that the pilot survived the accident.
Multiple photos show the small aircraft upside down and partially submerged in the lake. Byron and Leblond are seen standing waist-deep in the water next to the wreckage.
Provincial police received a 911 call about the incident just after 11 a.m. on Saturday. When paramedics arrived, the pilot was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. He has since stabilized.
It remains unclear why the pilot lost control of the aircraft. The Sûreté du Québec and Transportation Safety Board of Canada are both investigating.
Last Sunday afternoon, a 63-year-old man was killed in a plane crash about 150 kilometres northeast of Montreal in the Shawinigan region. Mechanical failure is believed to have been a factor in that case.
